| 1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/batman_tv_series.png]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:350:''Holy tropes-on-this-very-wiki, Batman!'']] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | ->''"But wait, the wildest is yet to come!"'' |
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| 6 | [[JustForFun/DescribeTopicHere Holy trope description, Batman!]] |
| 7 | |
| 8 | ''Batman'' is the {{camp}}y, colorful, comedic adaptation of the titular comic book character, produced for [[Creator/AmericanBroadcastingCompany ABC]] from [[TheSixties 1966 to 1968]]. It featured ComicBook/{{Batman}} (Creator/AdamWest) and ComicBook/{{Robin}} (Creator/BurtWard) as they foiled a variety of daffy and innocuous criminals via detective work and slow fist-fights which were [[HitFlash punctuated]] by large comic-style [[WrittenSoundEffect POW!s, BAFF!s and ZONK!s]]. |
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| 10 | Producer William Dozier and head writer Lorenzo Semple Jr. were assigned to create the series. Not being big fans of the comics, they hit on the idea of [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] and parodying the over-the-top tropes of comics and the square [[TheComicallySerious humorlessness]] of superheroes. Children tuned in for the superhero adventures, while adults caught the [[ParentalBonus campy jokes and satirical humor]]. |
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| 12 | With its intentionally absurd writing (particularly Batman's array of Bat-Gadgets, which seemed large enough to cater for [[CrazyPrepared any given situation]] -- the legendary Shark-Repellent Batspray comes to mind) and low budget, this was more like a televised {{pantomime}}/vaudeville/burlesque than anything resembling portrayals of superheroes in modern day media. The series managed to become something of a cultural icon, but it is also partly responsible for the general public's dim view of comic book writing and comics in general today, as even [[MediaNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks at the time]] comic book writing was taken far more seriously. |
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| 14 | For most of its run, ''Batman'' aired ''twice'' a week, on successive weeknights (which was unusual at the time). The episodes were two-parters; a {{cliffhanger}} punctuated the end of the first episode and the narrator iconically told the audience to "tune in tomorrow -- same Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel!" The series switched to airing once a week in the final season. |
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| 16 | ''Film/BatmanTheMovie'', an original theatrical feature film based on the series, was released in 1966. Among other things, the movie's larger budget provided the Dynamic Duo with some additional vehicles that became available for the remainder of the TV series (by recycling footage from the film): the Bat-Boat, the Bat-Copter, and the Bat-Cycle. |
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| 18 | The series still tends to be polarizing. Many enjoy it for its sheer farce and surrealism -- or for its nostalgia value -- but at the same time, many modern Batman fans consider this Batman to be the opposite of the Batman they know and love. Many comics fans also consider the show to be responsible for tainting an entire medium in the eyes of the general public; to this day, [[http://www.theonion.com/article/comics-not-just-for-kids-anymore-reports-85000th-m-28727 mainstream news stories about comic books]] are likely to have headlines like "Pow! Zap! Wham! Comic Books Aren't Just For Kids Anymore!" The series is sometimes blamed for causing the Batman comic line to adopt a "campier" tone as well, but [[MisBlamed in truth]] the main difference between this series and the "New Look" Batman comics that immediately preceded it was that the TV show was ''intentionally'' funny. The series did play a key role in the continued existence of the entire Bat franchise, however; comics sales had been in a serious decline, but the series provided a great deal of publicity, which led to a much-needed sales boost in Batman comics. In addition, the series was highly influential: Creator/CesarRomero, Creator/FrankGorshin and Creator/BurgessMeredith would become the template for future Jokers, Riddlers, and Penguins. The creators of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' even acknowledged the legacy of Adam West's ''Batman'' by paying him homage in [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE18BewareTheGrayGhost one of the episodes]]. |
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| 20 | The show's legacy continued long after its cancellation. Almost a decade later, Adam West and Burt Ward would reprise their roles on ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfBatman'', a Creator/{{Filmation}} animated series which competed with Creator/HannaBarbera's ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}''. West would eventually wind up voicing Batman on the last two "Super Powers" branded seasons of ''Superfriends''. (Robin continued to be played by his longtime ''Super Friends'' voice actor, Creator/CaseyKasem.) The show's style also influenced ''Film/SupermanTheMovie'', the first ever big-budget superhero film. |
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| 22 | West and Ward would play Batman and Robin in live action one final time (joined by Frank Gorshin as the Riddler) in the 1979 TV ''Series/LegendsOfTheSuperheroes'' specials. In the early 2000s, West and Ward (again joined by Gorshin) portrayed cartoonish versions of themselves in the Creator/{{CBS}} movie ''Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt'', consisting of a modern day plot to find the stolen Batmobile mixed with flashbacks to the events behind the scenes of filming the series in the 60s. In 2015, [[http://www.blastr.com/2015-3-30/adam-west-and-burt-ward-return-batman-and-robin-new-animated-film Ward revealed]] he and West would be returning for [[WesternAnimation/BatmanReturnOfTheCapedCrusaders a full-length animated movie]] for [[MilestoneCelebration the series' 50th anniversary in 2016]]. This was followed by a sequel in 2017, ''WesternAnimation/BatmanVsTwoFace'', where ComicBook/TwoFace (who had never appeared on the show) was played by Creator/WilliamShatner. It was West's final outing as he passed away that year. Most recently, Ward made a cameo as an aged Dick Grayson in TheTeaser of the Franchise/{{Arrowverse}} crossover event ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019'', establishing this show as Earth-66 of the Arrowverse's multiverse. [[spoiler:We briefly see Earth-66 again during the climax of ''Film/TheFlash2023''.]] |
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| 24 | In 2013, [[http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2013/03/dc-to-launch-digital-first-batman-comic-based-on-classic-tv-show/ DC announced]] ''ComicBook/Batman66'', a digital-first comic based on the series, with license to the rights for all the actors on the show, and written by Jeff Parker of ''ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'' and Marvel's ''ComicBook/AgentsOfAtlas''; it ended in 2015 with print issue #30. The popularity and critical success of this series led to a number of crossover miniseries, including Kevin Smith and Ralph Garman's ''Batman '66 Meets Radio/TheGreenHornet'', Ian Edginton's ''Batman '66 Meets [[Series/TheAvengers1960s Steed and Mrs Peel]]'', Jeff Parker and Marc Andreyko's ''Batman '66 Meets Series/{{Wonder Woman|1975}} '77'', Jeff Parker and Michael Morici's ''[[ComicBook/ArchieComics Archie]] Meets Batman '66'', and Parker's own ''Batman '66 Meets Series/TheManFromUNCLE''. Parker also introduced versions of some characters who post-date the series. ''The Lost Episode'', adapted by Len Wein from a rejected Creator/HarlanEllison treatment, also features the first appearance of Two-Face in this continuity. |
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| 26 | For many, many years, the show was never given any sort of proper home video release, which was especially awful in light of the TV-on-DVD boom. Reasons for this varied, with some of the issues cited being music licenses, royalties for the numerous "Bat-walk" cameos, and the fact that Bat-media as a whole is owned by Creator/WarnerBros while the series and its various elements were owned by Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox (which, in a bit of irony, was bought by Creator/{{Disney}} in 2019 -- meaning the series is now owned by the same company that holds DC rival Creator/MarvelComics). In early 2014, Creator/WarnerHomeVideo confirmed [[http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Batman-DVDs-Planned/19353 the entire series would be released in one gigantic box set later in the year.]] (It also has more affordable separate season sets for non-collectors.) Burt Ward later confirmed the release date for the set as the 11th of November 2014 – [[MilestoneCelebration just in time to celebrate Batman's 75th anniversary]]. |
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| 28 | If you want Batman played DarkerAndEdgier than [[FanNickname the Bright Knight]], see Creator/TimBurton's [[Film/Batman1989 1989 film]] (and [[Film/BatmanReturns its 1992 sequel]]), ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', Creator/ChristopherNolan's ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'', the ''Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse'', and Creator/MattReeves' ''Film/{{The Batman|2022}}''. For a more modern take on Batman that retains MediaNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} fun-factor[=/=]{{Camp}} absurdity combo of the series, see Creator/JoelSchumacher's ''Film/BatmanForever''. For Silver Age fun-factor with more tasteful {{Camp}} absurdity, see ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold''. For a DarkerAndEdgier take nonetheless heavy on {{Camp}}, see ''ComicBook/AllStarBatmanAndRobinTheBoyWonder''. And for camp absurdity minus the Silver Age fun-factor, see Schumacher's ''Film/BatmanAndRobin''. |
| 29 | ---- |
| 30 | |
| 31 | !!Quickly, Robin! To the Tropemobile! |
| 32 | |
| 33 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 34 | |
| 35 | [[folder:A-F]] |
| 36 | * AbandonedWarehouse |
| 37 | ** Including, but not limited to, abandoned factories for surfboards, umbrellas and ''launching pads''. For such a candy-colored town, Gotham City has an awful lot of abandoned buildings. It's no wonder there's such a rise in crime. |
| 38 | ** Sometimes averted when villains like Joker and Penguin use ''active'' businesses such as a printing company and a restaurant respectively as a front. |
| 39 | * AbledInTheAdaptation: Commissioner Gordon doesn't need to wear glasses like his comic counterpart. |
| 40 | * TheAce: This series's version of Batman certainly qualifies; he's one of the most unerringly competent and knowledgeable versions of the character, equally skilled in bareknuckle fistfighting and surfing competitions (even if he is prone to getting caught). At times, he borders on ParodySue. |
| 41 | * ActorAllusion |
| 42 | ** [[Series/GilligansIsland Alan Hale Jr.]] makes an appearance as a restaurant owner named Gilligan in one episode. |
| 43 | ** It may be a coincidence, but Edward Everett Horton appears in the first Egghead episode as Chief Screaming Chicken; he played a similarly named Indian Roaring Chicken on the first several episodes of ''Series/FTroop''. |
| 44 | * AdamWesting: No, Adam West doesn't do it here, but it's the ''source'' of his later Westing. |
| 45 | * AdiposeRex: King Tut thinks he's an Ancient Egyptian king and happens to be overweight. |
| 46 | * AffablyEvil: The George Sanders version of Mr. Freeze. He makes sure that his henchmen and mountain butler are warm in his lair, rewards his henchmen by tossing diamonds on the floor ("chickenfeed"), and imposes a very strict ThouShaltNotKill policy. He also treats Batman rather cordially, as the only reason he wants revenge on Batman is because the Caped Crusader put him in the instant freeze accident, no more and no less. In the first half of the "Instant Freeze"/"Rats Like Cheese" two-parter, he even [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone expresses regret at freezing the dynamic duo]]. |
| 47 | -->'''Mr. Freeze''': I am sorry, Batman. I wanted to toy with you a little longer, but...that is the way the [[{{Pun}} ice cube]] crumbles. |
| 48 | * AffectionateParody: [[http://tothebatpoles.blogspot.com/2011/09/spotlight-on-hi-diddle-diddlesmack-in.html This article]] argues that the mere fact of playing a relatively ambitious live-action production of a superhero (viewed at the time as an inherently worthless material) had to be played as a superficial, deliberately light self-parody devised by mainstreamers who never even suspected that a rich timeless fantasy was lurking underneath. |
| 49 | ** Also a parody of the gangster genre in general, which was common for the 60s (Series/TheMonkees did it a bunch on their TV show, too, for another example). |
| 50 | * AirVentPassageway |
| 51 | ** Episode "Smack in the Middle": the Riddler uses an air duct passage to infiltrate the Moldavian Pavilion party. |
| 52 | ** Episode "A Riddle A Day Keeps The Riddler Away": Batman and Robin use air ducts to infiltrate a building where the Riddler is holding a kidnapped king hostage. |
| 53 | * AllGirlsWantBadBoys |
| 54 | ** While Batman and Robin are only ocassionally seen romancing anyone (and usually in their civilian identities), many of the male villains are usually accompanied by sexy female assistants, and the fact that they're more than "just friends" is not always very subtle. |
| 55 | ** Inverted with Catwoman. It's heavily implied the duo both have interest in her, at least until Music/EarthaKitt took over the role and the studio overruled Adam West's wishes to continue. |
| 56 | * AllIssuesArePoliticalIssues: Inverted by the Penguin when he runs for Mayor of Gotham City, as his campaign features "plenty of girls and bands and slogans and lots of hoopla, but remember, no politics. Issues confuse people." |
| 57 | * AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: The Batcave gets invaded by quite a few villains over the course of the series (the Joker even manages to smuggle a bomb in there once). Stately Wayne Manor is likewise paid many visits by the criminal set, though fortunately none of them ever put the two together ([[spoiler:except King Tut. Thank goodness for EasyAmnesia, eh?]]) |
| 58 | * AlliterativeName: |
| 59 | ** The Dynamic Duo, the Caped Crusaders, etc. |
| 60 | ** The Penguin is especially fond of alliteration, calling Catwoman a "felonious feline" and the Joker a "pompous popinjay." |
| 61 | ** Batman also engages in it a lot. |
| 62 | * AmmunitionBackpack: Mr. Freeze wears a tank of freezing gas on his back to fuel his FreezeRay. |
| 63 | * AmnesiaEpisode: In almost every episode featuring the supervillain King Tut, the Egyptologist Professor William [=McElroy=] is hit on the head and forgets who he really is, thinking he's the historical King Tut instead. At the end of the episode he's hit on the head again and reverts to his standard personality. |
| 64 | * AnachronismStew: King Tut [[DeathTrap drowns Batman]] while quoting Shakespeare. [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed,]] as King Tut is really an amnesiac college professor, not the true Egyptian king, who could know Shakespeare as much as any other college professor. |
| 65 | ** Done in-universe in "The Penguin is a Girl's Best Friend," where The Penguin is directing a movie set in Ancient Rome, yet Batman and Robin appear in the film in their usual costumes complete with their usual gadgets. |
| 66 | ** The digital comic revival is full of this. In one story, camcorders are commonplace; in another, UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson will still be President. |
| 67 | * AndIMustScream: The Paralyzing Fog inflicts this on Batgirl. |
| 68 | %%* AndNowYouMustMarryMe: Multiple examples. [Ed: list some] |
| 69 | * AnimatedAdaptation: ''WesternAnimation/BatmanReturnOfTheCapedCrusaders'' and ''WesternAnimation/BatmanVsTwoFace'', 2016 and 2017 direct-to-video animated films set in the series. |
| 70 | * AnimatedCreditsOpening |
| 71 | * AnyoneCanDie: Generally avoided thanks to Batman being CrazyPrepared (and the fact that the show aims to be family-friendly and thus ThouShaltNotKill generally applies). However, a few people, both good and bad, ''are'' killed in season one. |
| 72 | * AristocratsAreEvil: SpecialGuest Villains Lord Marmaduke Ffogg and Lady Penelope Peasoup. |
| 73 | * ArsonMurderAndJaywalking |
| 74 | ** In the classic form of ListOfTransgressions, the list of Joker and Catwoman’s crimes includes “overtime parking.” |
| 75 | ** King Tut's line in one episode: "My Queen is disloyal, my handmaiden is a traitor...and everybody's being mean to me!" It's made all the better by the fact that Victor Buono is one of the [[LargeHam hammiest hams]] in the entire series. |
| 76 | ** Tut's crimes are at one point listed as "Kidnapping, murder, grand theft, and malicious mischief." The latter is a term for willful or wanton destruction of other people's property (i.e., vandalism). |
| 77 | * ArtisticLicense: Quite a bit was taken (who are we kidding? ''all'' the artistic license was taken) with Pengy's gold tank from "Penguin's Disastrous End", all pretty much absolved because the show runs on RuleOfCool and RuleOfFunny, and let's face it, a solid gold tank rumbling down the street with a tophat-wearing supervillain, a villainess wearing ''all'' the diamonds in the turret and a witch gleefully firing off the main gun is both of those in spades...: |
| 78 | ** ArtisticLicensePhysics: Gold is extremely heavy and malleable. Building a tank out of pure gold would have had a number of problems, including the tank not being that bulletproof and it either collapsing under its own weight or collapsing the streets it was driving on, and that's before we get into the problems with having a solid gold BFG that can fire real shells...; |
| 79 | ** ArtisticLicenseEngineering: To build the tank (a replica of a M5 Stuart -- in reality, a real M5 painted with gold paint [[note]]on the outside, they didn't bother to paint the interior hatches and areas where they'd show on camera, spoiling the illusion a bit[[/note]]) would have needed advanced machining tools and infrastructure above the one acyteline torch they brought in. Also, they would have needed high-temperature crucibles to even melt the gold in the first place; |
| 80 | ** ArtisticLicenseCars: Well, ''engines'' at the very least -- where exactly did Pengy get the gas to run the tank's engine? Also, Aunt Hilda looked like she was firing the main gun from the bow machine gunner's compartment, not the turret. |
| 81 | * ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Episode ""He Meets His Match, the Grisly Ghoul." At the end of a radio transmission between Batman and Robin, Batman (who is a duly deputized officer of the law and should know better) tells Robin, "Over and out." |
| 82 | * AscendedExtra: The Riddler. |
| 83 | ** Before 1966, he had only appeared in three stories total, two of which were in the 1940s, but his 1965 revival story caught the eye of the TV producers who made him the series' first SpecialGuest Villain and ultimately one of the top four. |
| 84 | ** Also in a meta sense - the popularity of Gorshin's Riddler led to the character becoming a prominent member of Batman's Rogues' Gallery in the comics, where he remains to this day. |
| 85 | * AscendedMeme: In the BeachEpisode, Batman is attacked by a shark while surfing, but fends it off. After he wins the contest, he chalks it up to his Shark Repellent Bat-Spray - the same notorious one from the movie. |
| 86 | * AsYouKnow: Utilized heavily when discussing villains, especially the few who have origin stories (namely, Mister Freeze and King Tut). Few, if any villains are "introduced" in the series, as even when the audience meets them for the first time, it's established that Batman and Robin have had many previous encounters with them. |
| 87 | * BackForTheFinale: A rather odd example. French Freddy "The Fence" Touche, a one-off associate of Catwoman's from season two, returns in the final episode helping Minerva. He's the only non-lead villain to make a second appearance. |
| 88 | * BadassBoast: A meta-example from Adam West: |
| 89 | -->"I never had to say ''I'm Batman''. I showed up. People knew I was Batman." |
| 90 | * BadassNormal: In this adaptation it applies to the heroes and villains alike. |
| 91 | * BaldOfEvil |
| 92 | ** Egghead, portrayed by Creator/VincentPrice. |
| 93 | ** Mister Freeze, as played by Otto Preminger. |
| 94 | * BallisticDiscount: In "The Great Train Robbery," Shame goes into a gun shop and asks to see a pistol that's on display. While the clerk is telling Shame how much it costs, Shame loads the gun and instructs the clerk to "stick 'em up." The clerk complies, commenting "I had a funny feeling you were gonna say that." |
| 95 | * BalloonOfDoom: The Puzzler's episode has him associated with balloons, from using special "puzzle balloons" to fill a room with paralyzing gas, to sending up Batman and Robin in a hot air balloon as the episode's midpoint death trap. |
| 96 | * BankRobbery: Not unknown on the show, though the various Special Guest Villains generally prefer more elaborate extortion schemes. "Penguin's Clean Sweep" has one especially memorable instance where, ''seconds'' after a successful job, a gang of bank robbers reverses and returns the money upon learning that the Penguin infected the local mint with [[ThePlague sleeping sickness]] germs. |
| 97 | * BashBrothers: Batman and Robin, even more so in this adaptation than in most. This trope could have easily been called "Dynamic Duo." |
| 98 | * BatDeduction: Batman's tendency to make bizarre leaps in logic that inevitably tend to be 100% on the money. In "The Penguin's A Jinx" the Penguin uses this, by giving Batman a meaningless clue with a bug in it, and listening in as Batman's deductions plan the crime for him. |
| 99 | * BatmanGambit |
| 100 | ** Alfred, Batman, and Robin pull one on Joker in "Flop Goes The Joker" with some paintings. |
| 101 | ** The Penguin pulls one on Batman and Robin in "Fine Feathered Finks" and "Penguin's A Jinx" by using Batman's BatDeduction against him. Leaving behind a purposely cryptic and bugged umbrella, he uses it to listen in on Batman and Robin, knowing that they will try to make sense of it. Using his knowledge, he is able to succeed with his scheme, with Batman and Robin only stopping him at the last minute. |
| 102 | * BattleButler: Alfred shows himself to be a surprisingly good fighter on occasion, able to deliver solid punches to henchmen and once single-handedly defeating the Joker in a fencing duel, then single-handedly trapping him in the Batpoles (conveniently unlabeled since Alfred had just repainted them) and sending him repeatedly up and down the poles with the Bat-elevator until the Joker is begging him for mercy, ''then'' having the childish paintings he'd created to foil the Joker's art heist scheme be praised by the art world and sold for big bucks...which he donated to a children's charity. |
| 103 | * BeachEpisode: "Surf's Up! Joker's Under!" features Batgirl wearing a sexy one-piece bathing suit...and Batman and the Joker wearing swim trunks ''over'' their regular suits for a surfing contest. |
| 104 | * BedlamHouse: Averted. Arkham Asylum was not introduced in the comics until several years after the TV series's end. In any case, the show typically represents the villains as flamboyant but sane crooks (even the Joker!), with King Tut (who has a form of insanity that presents itself as a SplitPersonality) being the only notable exception, although the Riddler may have also been an exception as he generally acted like the Joker ''should'' have, complete with insane giggle. The Joker ''did'' put white makeup over a mustache, so there is that. |
| 105 | * BeepingComputers: The Bat-computer. |
| 106 | * BerserkButton: It's best not to bring up the Bookworm's failed literary career. |
| 107 | * BetweenMyLegs: A shot of the Dynamic Duo framed between Shame's legs in "It's the Way You Play the Game." It was an homage to similar showdown scenes in Western movies. |
| 108 | * BigElectricSwitch |
| 109 | ** "King Tut's Coup." King Tut throws a switch to lower Batman (who's in a sarcophagus) into a pool of water using an [[Film/AustinPowers unnecessarily slow dipping mechanism]]. |
| 110 | ** "The Cat and the Fiddle." Catwoman throws one to turn off an elevator so Batman can't easily reach a high floor in a building. |
| 111 | ** "The Joker's Hard Time." The Joker uses one to drop a net over the Dynamic Duo. |
| 112 | ** "Catwoman's Dressed to Kill." One of Catwoman's henchmen throws one to activate the pattern cutter saw that is supposed to slice Batgirl in half. |
| 113 | ** "The Duo is Slumming." One of the Puzzler's henchmen pulls one to activate a shower of balloons on the Dynamic Duo, which allows the Puzzler and his henchmen to escape. |
| 114 | ** "A Riddle A Day Keeps The Riddler Away." One of the Riddler's henchmen throws a switch to drop a net on Batman and Robin, and one is later thrown to start the spinning {{Death Trap}}s to kill the Dynamic Duo. |
| 115 | ** "A Piece of the Action." Colonel Gumm throws an electric switch to activate the machine that will turn the Green Hornet and Kato into giant stamps. |
| 116 | ** "Scat! Darn Catwoman" |
| 117 | *** When Commissioner Gordon tries to trace the Batphone line to the Batcave, Batman throws three electric switches to activate Diversionary Batphone Lines to thwart the trace attempts. |
| 118 | *** Just before a fight between the Dynamic Duo and the villains, Batman throws an electric switch to turn on the lights in the room. |
| 119 | ** "The Catwoman Goeth". After Catwoman sends Robin into a maze, she flips a large electric switch to activate the electrical traps in the maze. |
| 120 | * BigFancyHouse: Stately Wayne Manor, of course. |
| 121 | * BigGood: Batman is this for Gotham, owing to an extremely cordial relationship with the police and citizens, who hold him in awe. One episode in which he goes missing lampshades this, as Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara are paralyzed, reeling in horror at the prospect of actually having to try ''solving a case themselves''. |
| 122 | * BigGuyLittleGuy: Batman (played by 6'2" Adam West) and Robin (5'7" Burt Ward) can qualify as this, but it's most prominent in the case of Catwoman (5'11" Julie Newmar) and her one-time henchgirl, Pussycat (5'2" Lesley Gore), even more exaggerated by Newmar wearing heels and Gore being in flats. |
| 123 | * BillionsOfButtons: Devices in the Bat-cave have tons of buttons on them. |
| 124 | * BloodlessCarnage |
| 125 | ** Double-subverted at least once. Batman and Robin burst into the Parker family's shack while they're eating dinner and pick a fight with Ma Parker's three sons. Ma then cries out because she notices one of the boys is bleeding, but Robin confirms that that's just a ketchup stain from the family meal. |
| 126 | ** In "It's How You Play the Game," Shame shoots Robin in the foot, and Batman takes out the bullet, but we don't see any blood or wound. (More interestingly, Robin is up and running a minute later despite the injury.) |
| 127 | * BondVillainStupidity: All over the damn place; rare is the villain who stays to watch their OnceAnEpisode deathtrap actually ''connect'' on the Dynamic Duo, and even rarer is the villain who actually has a good reason to leave the room five seconds after setting it up. |
| 128 | ** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in "Give 'Em the Axe": The Riddler actually explains to his moll, who asks him why doesn't he just kill the unconscious Batman and Robin plain and easy, that he enjoys watching his enemies die a slow and painful death, and it's much more satisfactory than simply getting rid of them. Of course, this always backfires, as the Dynamic Duo cleverly escapes their planned fate. |
| 129 | ** Shame gives a different explanation when ''his'' moll asks him the same thing: it wouldn't be fair to shoot two unconscious men in cold blood. |
| 130 | * BoundAndGagged: This happens quite a lot to several characters throughout the course of this show. The Dynamic Duo are often tied up during the cliffhangers, although they're gagged only a few times. After being introduced at the beginning of the third season, Batgirl is tied up (while sometimes being gagged) quite a few times as well. |
| 131 | * BoxingEpisode: "Ring Around the Riddler." The Riddler is out to control all prize fighting in Gotham City by kidnapping and brainwashing all of the top prize fighters. During the episode, Batman and the Riddler face off in a boxing ring. |
| 132 | * {{Brainwashed}}: It happens a few times with other villains, but it's the main gimmick for The Black Widow and Marsha, Queen of Diamonds. Averted with the Mad Hatter, who did not use mind controlling hats in the comics until years after the end of the TV series (his topper does contain a "mesmerizer," but this is more of TheParalyzer than a full-blown HypnoRay). |
| 133 | * BreakingTheFourthWall: Several examples, such as the early episode "Zelda the Great" in which the show's first-ever female villain directly speaks to the audience about her plans. |
| 134 | * BrickJoke: |
| 135 | ** In "Pop Goes The Joker," Dick notices the Batpole signs are missing, as Alfred has removed them for repainting. "In "Flop Goes The Joker," Alfred traps Joker in the Batpoles after a HostageSituation at Wayne Manor when he accidentally goes into Bruce's studio and finds the button in Shakespeare's bust. Not only are the signs still not there, but Alfred deactivates the automatic Bat costume change mechanism, preserving the Dynamic Duo's secret identity. |
| 136 | ** From the same two-part episode, Bruce mentions ''[[MythologyGag The Man Who Laughs]]'' before the opening credits. Later, that's the only painting that Joker doesn't damage at the art gallery. |
| 137 | * BronsonCanyonAndCaves: Used for exterior shots of the Bat Cave. |
| 138 | * TheCameo: In many episodes (particularly during the second season), Batman and Robin often find an excuse to climb a wall. Inevitably, a celebrity will open a window and exchange dialog with them. A far-from-exhaustive list of "Bat-Climb Cameo" characters: |
| 139 | ** Creator/JerryLewis |
| 140 | ** Ted Cassidy, as Lurch from ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'' |
| 141 | ** Edward G. Robinson as an art collector |
| 142 | ** SantaClaus (played by Andy Devine) |
| 143 | ** [[Series/AmericanBandstand Dick Clark]] |
| 144 | ** Werner Klemperer, in character as [[Series/HogansHeroes Colonel Klink]] |
| 145 | ** Creator/SammyDavisJr |
| 146 | ** Comedian Bill Dana (as his stand-up character "Jose Jimenez") |
| 147 | ** Newspaper society columnist Suzy Knickerbocker |
| 148 | ** Howard Duff in character as the hero of ''Series/TheFelonySquad'', another Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox show airing on ABC at the time (this series started its run a few months before ''Batman'', which would make this a plug for the other show). |
| 149 | ** In a particularly memorable example, the Dynamic Duo encounter Series/TheGreenHornet and [[Creator/BruceLee Kato]] in the window, greeting them as fellow heroes. In a later episode, these heroes are full-fledged guest stars, but now Batman and Robin believe them to be criminals - as they pretend to be in their own series. Oddly enough, this creates a ContinuitySnarl, since in both series, the shows are MutuallyFictional: ''Batman'' is a fictional program in ''The Green Hornet,'' and ''The Green Hornet'' is a fictional program in ''Batman.'' |
| 150 | ** The final "window cameo" is by Cyril Lord, a well-known British floorcoverings distributor of the time, who got a moment in the Bat-spotlight (using his nickname of "Carpet King") after selling TV producer Howie Horwitz a fine Persian rug, and did so at a discount in exchange for his time onscreen. |
| 151 | * {{Camp}}: The series's use of exaggeration and straight-faced absurdity popularized the use of the term in the mass media. |
| 152 | * CanonImmigrant: Quite a few characters and concepts introduced for the show ended up in the comics. Creator/DCComics does not have the legal right, for works other than ''Batman [='=]66'', to use characters explicitly created for the show, however, so many of these are unofficial. |
| 153 | ** The Barbara Gordon incarnation of Batgirl was introduced in the comic version in collaboration with the writers for the TV series, as a ratings stunt for its third season. She continues to be featured in the comics more than 45 years later; the Bat-Girl (note spelling) introduced in the comics in the early 1960s is all but forgotten. |
| 154 | ** There's also Chief O'Hara. Though first mentioned in a ''World's Finest'' story that was printed several months after the show started airing, he first appeared on panel in the comics during the Steve Engelhart/Marshall Rogers run in ''Detective Comics''. He also had an Earth-Two counterpart introduced nearly a decade after the television series ended production, who mainly appeared in the ''Huntress'' back-up stories featured in later issues of ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'', where he succeeds the late Bruce Wayne as police commissioner of Gotham City and is regarded by Bruce's daughter Helena as an HonoraryUncle in spite of [[RememberTheNewGuy O'Hara obviously not existing in the Golden Age Batman comics]]. A Post-Crisis interpretation of Chief O'Hara would also appear in Creator/JephLoeb's ''ComicBook/BatmanDarkVictory'' as the first victim of the Hangman killings, subsequently resurfacing alive and well during the 2000 ''Silver Age'' storyline and in Creator/GrantMorrison's [[ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison run]] during a flashback in ''Batman'' issue 700 (which both contradict Chief O'Hara's death in ''Dark Victory'' by having him appear during Dick Grayson's period as the original Robin). |
| 155 | ** King Tut finally appeared in the comics in 2009.[[note]] ''Batman Confidential'' #26 (April 2009)[[/note]] As a 40-plus year journey, this may be one of the longest canon immigrations on record. Technically, however, the comic book King Tut is a different character from the one owned by 20th Century Fox and Greenway Productions, with a different personality and visual look. Since King Tut is a historical figure (and thus in the public domain), this is kosher, but DC would not be legally allowed to publish a character similar to Victor Buono's, except within ''Batman '66'', which specifically licenses the likenesses from the show. |
| 156 | ** Egghead had an unofficial cameo as an Arkham Asylum inmate,[[note]] ''Shadow of the Bat'' #2-3[[/note]] and also showed up in issue #16 of the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' tie-in comic. |
| 157 | ** Aunt Harriet is often ''incorrectly'' thought to be a CanonImmigrant, but she was introduced in 1964, replacing the dead Alfred (he got better.) |
| 158 | ** A great many of the villains originally created for the show make unofficial cameos as prisoner "extras" in the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' animated series, including King Tut, Egghead, Archer, Bookworm, Black Widow, Siren, Marsha: Queen of Diamonds, Louie the Lilac, Ma Parker, Shame, and the David Wayne version of the Mad Hatter. |
| 159 | *** Tut did later show up in ''The Brave and the Bold'' as a character in his own right for one of the cold opens, with Creator/JohnDiMaggio doing a creditable impersonation of Creator/VictorBuono. |
| 160 | ** Much as with Gorshin's Riddler, Burgess Meredith's Penguin is so iconic that it's not only still referenced (''Series/TheDailyShow'' drew comparisons between the character and Dick Cheney), it's also arguable that Penguin is the Bat-Villain least-changed since the 60s depiction. He still does the laugh in the comics, too. |
| 161 | ** Subtler than most, but a few moments in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' have Heath Ledger's Joker laughing rather like Cesar Romero's, most notably in the video he sends to police. Ledger famously locked himself away in a hotel room trying to find a laugh unlike Creator/JackNicholson's, and the effect of the campy Romero laugh is unsettling in context. |
| 162 | ** Bookworm initially made the jump to the main comics in a 1989 Huntress story, and later showed up in 2014's ''ComicBook/GothamAcademy'' as the school librarian. |
| 163 | ** The tie-in comic ''ComicBook/Batman66'' has a number of inversions, reworking villains that post-date the series into the '66 milieu: |
| 164 | *** One issue introduces Batman '66's own version of The Red Hood (the original version, not [[ComicBook/RedHoodAndTheOutlaws Jason Todd]]) as [[spoiler: a helmet that caused anyone wearing it to become a Joker-aligned criminal mastermind, created when an attempt to calm the prisoners of Arkham Asylum down by projecting brainwaves onto them backfired when [[AMindIsATerribleThingToRead The Joker proved to be too much to handle]]]]. Said issue also introduced a psychiatric nurse by the name of [[ComicBook/HarleyQuinn Dr. Holly Quinn, who referred to the Joker as "Patient J."]] She later dons the helmet, which has been reworked as a device to subdue insanity, to stop the Joker and Catwoman from turning Gotham into a city of laughing lunatics; in doing so, she herself becomes insane and incarcerated at Arkham, until a few issues later, she escapes and becomes exactly who we're talking about (under the non-punny name of "the Harlequin"). |
| 165 | *** Another inversion from the comic: Waylon Jones shows up as a King Tut henchman who drinks a powerful crocodile serum. He appears fully transformed into Killer Croc some issues later. |
| 166 | *** Yet another inversion is Lord Death Man, who went from the original comics to [[Manga/{{Batman}} the manga]] to Batman '66. |
| 167 | *** ComicBook/{{Bane}} has been reimagined as a MaskedLuchador. |
| 168 | *** The Scarecrow and Poison Ivy have also been introduced to the Batman '66 comics. |
| 169 | * CantGetInTroubleForNuthin: The Penguin, acting as a respected restaurateur as part of a FalselyReformedVillain scheme, has considerable difficulty when he actively tries to get thrown in prison so that he can consult an expert forger criminal colleague. (Although this is because Batman recognizes that he's trying to get sent to prison and convinces the cops not to arrest him.) When [[spoiler:he finally succeeds in getting sent to prison, the criminal he wanted to hook up with gets released]]. |
| 170 | * CaptainObvious: |
| 171 | --> Batman: "According to my Bat Compass, north-by-northeast is in a general north-northeasterly direction." |
| 172 | * CardboardPrison: Curiously, mostly averted. Gotham State Penitentiary has a few breakouts, to be sure, but you're more likely to hear "It's been X weeks since Y Super-Criminal was released", rather than reports of an escape. |
| 173 | * CatchPhrase |
| 174 | ** "Holy [insert word relevant to the current circumstance here], Batman!" |
| 175 | ** "It's the Batphone, sir." |
| 176 | ** "To the Batmobile!" |
| 177 | ** "Whoever he is behind that mask of his..." |
| 178 | ** "Stately Wayne Manor, home of millionaire Bruce Wayne and his youthful ward Dick Grayson." |
| 179 | ** OfficerOHara has a trio of "Saints preserve us!", "Begorra!", and "Mother [insert Irish last name here]!" |
| 180 | ** "Wild!" - The Preminger version of Freeze. |
| 181 | ** *waughwaughwaugh* - The Penguin's laugh. |
| 182 | ** Did you forget, "old chum"? |
| 183 | ** Narrator, in the part 2 episodes: "So far, we have seen..." and, "The wildest is yet to come!" |
| 184 | *** Surely the most famous of the narrator's is "Same bat-time, same bat-channel." |
| 185 | * CatsHaveNineLives: Catwoman dies on two occasions, including her ''very first appearance'' because she considered her loot more important than her life. The second time is when she willingly falls to her death when she realizes a life with Batman as his wife would be impossible. |
| 186 | * TheCavalryArrivesLate: If the Gotham police arrive at all, they always arrive after Batman and Robin have subdued the Guest Villain and his henchmen to take them into custody. |
| 187 | ** From the episode "Rats Like Cheese": |
| 188 | --->'''Robin''': What took you so long? I phoned you before I came in here over an hour ago. |
| 189 | --->'''Chief O'Hara''': We took a wrong turn off Route 49. |
| 190 | ** In the episode "Give 'Em the Axe", Chief O'Hara and several GCPD officers arrive after the Dynamic Duo have captured the Riddler and his henchmen in a historical museum. O'Hara explains that when Commissioner Gordon told him to go to the museum, he thought Gordon meant the wax museum where the Riddler's previous crime had occured. |
| 191 | * ChairmanOfTheBrawl: Episode "That Darn Catwoman." After Robin is placed under Catwoman's control, he breaks a chair over Batman's head while fighting him. |
| 192 | * ChekhovsSkill: |
| 193 | ** Batman has apparently mastered an Indian rope trick called Ruszííí Szidááá Rákóóó at some point in his past, in a case of SuddenlyAlwaysKnewThat. It comes in handy in the third season. |
| 194 | ** Robin's bird call skills save them from a balloon in "The Duo is Slumming." |
| 195 | * ClarkKenting: |
| 196 | ** Here it's very notable. As Bruce Wayne, Adam West uses a more laid-back, natural delivery, as opposed to Batman's intense, melodramatic manner, but it's still very recognizably the same voice. Furthermore, Dick Grayson and Robin sound and act almost exactly the same. No one seems to do the math that the two men are almost always together, just as Batman and Robin are. |
| 197 | ** Because Batman's costume had no pockets, Adam West developed an 'arms folded' stance so that he could still look dignified in the costume. Occasionally (notably when on his date with Kitka in the movie), he forgets and uses the same body language as Bruce Wayne. |
| 198 | ** It gets a little unbelievable when even Aunt Harriet, who lives with Bruce and Dick, doesn't even suspect a thing when they walk into the house and give her a kiss for her birthday, saying that "Bruce called in a favor." |
| 199 | ** Alfred also qualifies since, though not wearing a costume, he is both Bruce Wayne’s butler who answers his phone for him and the man who answers Batman’s phone for him, too. He doesn’t appear to make any attempt to disguise his voice while doing this. One episode ("The Curse of Tut") even has the Commissioner calling Bruce Wayne, Alfred answers and then goes and gets Bruce, then straight after they're done the Commissioner calls Batman, and Alfred answers again and gets Batman. |
| 200 | ** Then there's Batgirl. Batman and Robin are continually perplexed at how Batgirl manages to keep turning up where the action is, and it never once dawns on them that Commissioner Gordon has a daughter who's the right age and size to be Batgirl, speaks with the same voice, and above all, who shows up in Gotham City at the exact same time Batgirl does. Does the red wig really fool them ''that'' much? |
| 201 | * ClownCar: In the episode "The Penguin Declines," the Batmobile's trunk is spacious enough to hold ComicBook/TheJoker, ComicBook/ThePenguin, ''and six of their henchmen''. |
| 202 | * ColdHam |
| 203 | ** This show's take on The Riddler. He alternates between cold as ice and leaping with excitement, and is a ham through and through. |
| 204 | ** Batman himself is sometimes this, especially next to the youthful exuberance of Robin, but he does have his LargeHam moments. |
| 205 | * ColorblindCasting: When Julie Newmar was unavailable for the third season, Eartha Kitt was cast as Catwoman in her place. |
| 206 | * CombatAestheticist: |
| 207 | ** In group brawls, Batman and Robin will often set up ridiculous and unnecessary tag-team attacks when basic attacks would be a lot simpler and equally effective. |
| 208 | ** In a less combat-direct example, whenever a character finds themselves tied up and moving toward their doom on a conveyor belt, they always seem to find some elaborate, daring, close-shave way to escape instead of just...rolling off of the conveyor. |
| 209 | * CombatPragmatist: Catwoman shows this at least once where she attempts to kill Batman straight by throwing him out a window instead of using a DeathTrap. Needless to say, it doesn't work. |
| 210 | * ComeOutComeOutWhereverYouAre: In "Catwoman's Dressed to Kill," Batgirl says this to Catwoman after she chases her into a dressing room; naturally, that's Catwoman's cue to [[RightBehindMe appear behind her]] and capture her. |
| 211 | * ComicallySerious |
| 212 | ** Batman's defining characteristic in this portrayal. He rarely has any idea that anything he's saying is funny. Adam West has said that the key to the comedy of the show was saying the ridiculous lines with a straight face. (Creator/LeslieNielsen followed that advice.) |
| 213 | ** Neil Hamilton's portrayal of Commissioner Gordon practically runs on this trope. |
| 214 | * ComicBookAdaptation: In 2013 Creator/DCComics launched an actual comic book version of the TV series, titled ''ComicBook/Batman66'', as well as releasing a trade paperback of the original issues that episodes were based on. |
| 215 | * ComicBookTime: The show runs on it -- the standard prison sentence for a super crook is 10 to 20 years in Gotham State Penitentiary. In a few weeks time, they'll be back either having served their sentence or released early on parole or good behavior. |
| 216 | * TheCommissionerGordon: Actor Neil Hamilton plays Gordon, who, unlike other portrayals, is completely dependent on Batman to catch the villains of the show, to the extent that during the few times where Batman is reported as unavailable when needed, Gordon reacts with abject horror that he, O'Hara, and the Gotham Police Department will have to deal with catching crooks themselves. |
| 217 | * CompanionCube: In ''A Piece of the Action/Batman's Satisfaction'', Pinky Pinkston much prefers to converse with her subordinate, Colonel Gumm, by pretending to talk to or explain things to her dog, Apricot. She even does it to Commissioner Gordon a few times. This gets a [[LampshadeHanging Lampshade]] when Pinky [[spoiler: is taken hostage and tied up by Gumm in his office]] when she asks Apricot to [[spoiler: chew through her ropes]] by prefacing it with, "And this time, I really AM talking to you..." |
| 218 | * CompellingVoice: The Siren, but it only works on men. |
| 219 | * CompositeCharacter: |
| 220 | ** The ''Batman '66'' comic series essentially does this when False Face [[spoiler: is revealed to be Basil Karlo and gets turned into this universe's Clayface.]] |
| 221 | ** Two-Face's real name is Harvey Dent, but the script was based on Paul Sloane's first appearance, resulting the character in "The Lost Episode" being an amalgamation of the two. |
| 222 | * ConcealingCanvas |
| 223 | ** In the episode "The Duo is Slumming," the plans for an airplane are in a wall safe concealed by a painting. |
| 224 | ** In the episodes "That Darn Catwoman" and "Flop Goes The Joker," stately Wayne Manor has a wall safe hidden behind a painting. |
| 225 | ** Hilariously lampshaded once where a safe is concealed behind a painting ''of the safe.'' |
| 226 | * ContinuityNod: Remembering that it was common for syndicated episodes to be broadcast in random order (albeit with the two- and three-part storylines kept together), the use of direct callbacks of this nature were rare for this era. |
| 227 | ** In "The Ring of Wax," Riddler is careful to deactivate the Batmobile security system before driving it away. This seems to nod to his intro episode, in which he sets off the security system trying to steal it. |
| 228 | ** The Joker/Penguin team-up three-parter during the second season also references the fact that it's not the first time that Joker has tried to contaminate Gotham's water supply - previously, he'd tried to do it in "The Joker's Provokers". |
| 229 | ** In "Fine Feathered Finks"/"The Penguin's a Jinx," Robin freaks out when he sees Alfred doing maintenance near the Batcave's nuclear reactor, which is where Molly, the Riddler's girlfriend, was killed in the previous week's storyline. It's revealed that there is now a safety shut-off to make it safer. |
| 230 | * ContrivedCoincidence: Often, the Dynamic Duo escape deathtraps not by anything they did, but by simple pure luck. |
| 231 | ** The Joker has the pair locked into a truck in electric chairs with a slot machine that will deliver 50,000 volts of electricity when it hits three lemons. Just as the third is about to hit, Gotham City is hit by a massive blackout. A passing cop car scares off the Joker and his goons, and the officers free Batman and Robin. |
| 232 | ** Catwoman has them strapped down under huge magnifying glasses that will focus the sunlight onto their bodies and burn them alive. By chance, a solar eclipse comes about, giving Batman the chance to knock one glass aside so when the sun comes back, it will burn through their bonds. Semi-justified in that the episode's intro has Bruce and Dick looking at the eclipse and discussing it, so it doesn't come completely out of nowhere. |
| 233 | * ConvenientEclipse: In "The Cat and the Fiddle", Batman and Robin are tied under giant magnifying glasses so they'll be broiled to death by concentrated sunlight. An eclipse gives them time to move one of the glasses so it burns through their bonds and frees them. |
| 234 | * CoolCar: The Batmobile, almost to the point of being a metal IconicOutfit. There have been ''plenty'' of other Batmobiles before and since, but in car-guy circles the George Barris version for this series is ''the'' Batmobile. Even cooler if you see the real thing in person, since EVERYTHING on the car is meticulously and hilariously labeled, like the bat-accelerator, bat-radio, bat-emergency brake...it's cool because audiences watching would never be able to see the various labels and buttons. |
| 235 | * CoolGarage: The Batcave. |
| 236 | * CoolOldGuy: Alfred, of course, especially when he starts to take an active role in some of the adventures (even donning the Batman costume and fighting on occasion). |
| 237 | * CorruptedContingency: One episode has Batman and Robin investigating the appearance of a crude statue of the Joker in a museum. Sensing a trap, Batman urges the curator to close the museum and remove everyone from the premises; once they're all outside, a security guard brags about how their new defense system makes it impossible for anyone to get in or out of the building once it is activated. Batman realizes--too late--that he's [[XanatosGambit played into the Joker's hands]]: the Clown Prince of Crime and his cronies are ''already inside'' the museum, and now the heroes cannot get back in to stop them. Sure enough, Joker and his goons emerge from the sculpture gallery and head to the Rare Gems exhibit. |
| 238 | * CountingBullets: Batman and Robin have been known to do this; once Batman even counts the number fired from a machine-gun! |
| 239 | * CowboyEpisode: The two Shame appearances. |
| 240 | * CrazyPrepared: This ''is'' still Batman, you know, just with the [[PlayedForLaughs emphasis more on the "crazy"]] than the "prepared." Every episode has him using something that seems specifically made for whatever ridiculous situation or ludicrous death-trap he finds himself in: a full-sized bulletproof Bat-shield, Bat-lube, a Bat-swat, Bat-cilin, and a Bat-speech Imitator are just a (very) few examples. He even carries fresh fish in his utility belt just in case he encounters a hungry seal! |
| 241 | * CreateYourOwnVillain: Batman to Mr. Freeze, as noted in the episode "Instant Freeze." (Freeze's origin here is strikingly similar to the Joker's origin in the comics -- [[FreakLabAccident thrown into chemicals by Batman]].) |
| 242 | * CreatorCameo: Stanley Ralph Ross, a frequent writer for the series, appears at the end of "The Bird's Last Jest" as forger Barney 'Ballpoint' Baxter, with whom Penguin is trying to link up in prison. Ross begged William Dozier for a cameo, stating that he was funny. Dozier broke down and gave Ross his cameo, telling him, "All right, I'll give you a cameo, but if you think you're funny, see how funny you can be with no lines!" Indeed, Ross does not speak at all in his appearance. |
| 243 | * CreepyHighPitchedVoice: Cesar Romero's flamboyant, silly portrayal of the Joker was helped greatly by the clownish voice he used for the role. |
| 244 | * CriminalAmnesiac: King Tut, owing to a [[EasyAmnesia simple blow to the head.]] Unlike most cases of this, the "good" identity knows what happens when bumped on the noggin and takes steps to avoid it...[[StatusQuoIsGod not that it helps.]] |
| 245 | * CrossOver: |
| 246 | ** The Penguin is shown at a table in a nightclub scene in an episode of ''Series/TheMonkees'', and 40 years later in a ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode for a nuns/penguins joke. |
| 247 | ** The series itself had a two-part crossover with Series/TheGreenHornet. Most notably, at the end of Part 2 of the crossover, Batman and Robin square off against The Green Hornet and [[Creator/BruceLee Kato]]. The fight ends on Bruce Lee whooping the ever-loving shit out of Burt Ward...I mean: a "tie"... |
| 248 | ** The comic has had a crossover [[SequelEpisode sequel]] to Series/TheGreenHornet episode by Creator/KevinSmith, and a crossover with ''Series/TheManFromUncle'' by regular writer Jeff Parker. |
| 249 | ** The comic has also crossed over with the old '60s spy series ''Series/TheAvengers1960s'', though renamed to "John Steed and Mrs. Peel" to avoid trademark issues, as there is another franchise called "ComicBook/TheAvengers," and the [[Creator/MarvelComics owner]] of that mark wouldn't be particularly willing to share with DC... |
| 250 | * CutLexLuthorACheck |
| 251 | ** In "The Penguin's Nest," Penguin opens a hugely popular restaurant, which by all indications positively rakes in the cash. However, Penguin chooses to use it as the front for a forgery scheme instead of simply living off the restaurant's proceeds. |
| 252 | ** In "The Joker's Flying Saucer," the Joker creates a flying saucer that can (based on the Joker's comments) travel through outer space to other planets. He decides on the standard "conquer the world" strategy when he could have just sold the design to NASA for billions of dollars. |
| 253 | ** Also applies to Catwoman, who, if she used her intelligence productively (or, let's be honest, became a model or movie star with her looks) -- or even simply give up crime and married Bruce Wayne -- could easily become as rich as she desires. |
| 254 | ** Batman and Robin even comment during the Minstrel's appearance that he could make a good living just by selling records. |
| 255 | * DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster: The attitude taken by almost every guest villain toward the criminal lifestyle, even those who are traditionally grim or loners in the comics. Even Mr. Freeze, the most tragic of the TV villains, enjoys the fine life now and then |
| 256 | * DamselInDistress: Usually averted with Batgirl. She got plenty of trouble, but she got herself out as often as not. Sometimes she even got Batman and Robin out of trouble |
| 257 | * DanceBattler: Batgirl, as portrayed by former professional ballerina Creator/YvonneCraig. Almost a required trope given that Batgirl was not allowed to throw punches, confining her fights mostly to kicking. |
| 258 | * DastardlyWhiplash: In the episode, "The Riddler's False Notion," the Riddler plans a series of crimes with a silent movie theme. During one caper, he is dressed as the stereotypical villain, wearing a black top hat and cape over his green tights, and wearing a false mustache and carrying a whip. |
| 259 | * DatingCatwoman: Only fitting considering Catwoman was played by Julie Newmar. Meow, indeed. Compared to other takes on the Bat-mythos, it's actually kind of subverted, or at least one-sided. Newmar's Catwoman is colder and crueler than just about any other incarnation of the character (a holdover from MediaNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks, where MediaNotes/TheComicsCode forbade villains to look too sympathetic), and regularly arranges violent deathtraps for the man she supposedly loves. When she does show attraction to Batman, it's more the StalkerWithACrush kind (in one episode her deathtrap-du-jour is designed to more or less ''lobotomize'' Batman, with the implication that she plans to keep him as a sex slave afterwards). This disappears entirely once Eartha Kitt steps into Catwoman's boots. |
| 260 | * DeadpanSnarker: Julie Newmar's Catwoman is very sassy. |
| 261 | * {{Deathtrap}}: You can rely on seeing one in the middle of every two-parter. |
| 262 | * DeathByMaterialism: Happens to Catwoman in "Better Luck Next Time" where she falls to her death because of her refusal to let go of her loot. Luckily CatsHaveNineLives. |
| 263 | * DeconstructiveParody: The first season and TheFilmOfTheSeries ''Film/BatmanTheMovie'': In the pilot, the Riddler deconstructs the SuperHero by tricking Batman into falsely arresting him so he can make a FrivolousLawsuit for a million dollars, exposing Batman’s SecretIdentity. The second episode shows the Penguin taking advantage of Batman’s BatDeduction to commit crimes. ''Film/BatmanTheMovie'' ends by lampshading ReedRichardsIsUseless when Batman refuses Robin’s idea to alter the personalities of the world leaders for the betterment of the world (and then exactly that happens unintentionally). |
| 264 | * DeducingTheSecretIdentity: Egghead, the World's Smartest Criminal, is able to deduce Batman's secret identity. First, he reasons that the enormous "egg-spense" involved in producing Batman's various gadgets would point to only one of three Gotham City millionaires, and then he deduces which two of them cannot be the Caped Crusader (one has a French accent, which Batman does not have, and the other is left-handed, whereas Batman is right-handed). He concludes that the last, Bruce Wayne, must be Batman. |
| 265 | * DemotedToExtra: The Riddler after season one. Frank Gorshin was trying to get more money since the Riddler was arguably the most popular villain of the first season -- which led to a planned Riddler arc being rewritten for the minor Superman villain the Puzzler, and later a story where the Riddler was played by Creator/JohnAstin instead. Eventually Gorshin appeared for one final episode in season three. |
| 266 | * DescendedCreator: The NoIndoorVoice narrator was executive producer William Dozier (billed as "Desmond Doomsday" on the show's soundtrack album). |
| 267 | * DeusExMachina |
| 268 | ** Anti-[fill-in-the-blank] pills were commonplace, including Anti-Penguin-Gas (taken before attending a town hall meeting held by The Penguin) and Anti-Hypnosis (to block the effect of The Joker's hypnotic music box) pills. |
| 269 | ** "He Meets his Match, the Grizzly Ghoul," when Batman and Robin are strapped to electric chairs and about to be electrocuted when a rigged slot machine comes up three lemons. At the exact moment the electricity would have flowed, there is suddenly a power failure that lasts long enough for two cops to investigate the truck holding the Duo. Thus the Joker's gang has to escape, and the cops find the Duo and the power outage lasts long enough for the cops to free the Duo in time. |
| 270 | * DiamondsInTheBuff: The Penguin seems to have had this trope in mind for the movie he directs starring Batman and Marsha, Queen of Diamonds. However the local censors put a stop to it before he can even begin filming the sequence. |
| 271 | * DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: In one episode when Robin gets put under Catwoman's control by a drug called Cataphrenic, he assaults ''freakin' Chief O'Hara''. |
| 272 | * DiegeticSoundtrackUsage: In "The Pharaoh's in a Rut," King Tut calls for "bat-music." A henchman sets a gramophone in motion, and we hear a brass-enhanced version of the show's theme. |
| 273 | * DirtyCoward: Could be subverted or played straight depending on circumstance. Many of the (male) villains were not afraid to join their henchmen in the brawls and could fist-fight at least as well (certainly better than their movie or animated counterparts), but at other times they would try to run away, hide, whine, cry, beg for mercy, or just [[CowerPower pull one of the molls in front of them]]. Never worse than when they would just ''stand there'' and watch their henchmen get knocked unconscious, effectively joining whatever NeutralFemale happened to be standing by. |
| 274 | * DisabledInTheAdaptation: In the inverse of Commissioner Gordon, this Alfred is shown wearing glasses. |
| 275 | * DistaffCounterpart |
| 276 | ** In the comic book story that inspired the first Zelda The Great episode, the "magician" role was played by a man named Carnado. |
| 277 | ** Batgirl to Batman, in-universe. |
| 278 | * DominoMask: Robin wears one, as do some criminals (Riddler, Catwoman). |
| 279 | * DoNotAdjustYourSet: In "Batman Is Riled," the Joker broadcasts from his lair to the [=TV=]s of Gotham City, saying that he will kill the captive Batman and Robin unless he is given the ocean liner S.S. Gotham. |
| 280 | * TheDoorSlamsYou: In "King Tut's Coup," two of Tut's henchmen do this to Robin, knocking him silly. |
| 281 | * DressedLikeADominatrix: Another early example of this trope. This 1966 version of the FemmeFatale villainess ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} wears a tight, black, leather catsuit with gloves, high-heeled boots, and often wields a whip. Her comic book version at the time didn't yet wear anything like that (and wouldn't for more than 20 years). |
| 282 | * DressOMatic: Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson had a device via the Batpoles that put them into their costumes as Batman and Robin. |
| 283 | * DutchAngle: Used extensively. The wall-climbing scenes were filmed at an angle to make them look convincing. Meanwhile, the scenes set in villains' hideouts were filmed at an angle to [[VisualPun emphasize how "crooked" the criminals were]]. |
| 284 | * EarlyAdaptationWeirdness: The series shows it age due to it using elements that were later dropped from the ''Batman'' canon, such as Batgirl starting off as a 20-something year old librarian instead of a teenage student, Dick Grayson's aunt, and the characterization of villains like Mr. Freeze. |
| 285 | * EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The pilot episode(s). |
| 286 | ** Batman dancing the Batusi, likely because Batman had been slipped a mickey by Riddler's moll Molly and wasn't in his right mind. Despite what detractors and spoofers suggest, this wasn't a OnceAnEpisode event; it would only pop up once more at the climax of King Tut's debut towards the end of the season, and it made far more sense there. Later episodes tended to avoid making Batman himself look this overtly ridiculous. |
| 287 | ** This and many other early episodes end with "Same Time, Same Channel", no "Bat-", as the show didn't adopt the "Bat-Time/Bat-Channel" catchphrase as a staple until partway through the second season. |
| 288 | ** In addition, the second half of the episode has the recap shown with still frames, when all the later second-part episodes' recaps would show an actual clip of every important scene before freezing it. |
| 289 | ** Batusi aside, the first two episodes actually contain grim subject matter rarely if ever touched upon in later episodes. Bruce Wayne mentions his parents being murdered, which would only be mentioned once more in a season two Joker episode, and the Riddler's girlfriend [[spoiler: dies a clumsy and needless death ''in the Batcave's nuclear reactor''. Although characters would occasionally die during the series, this death stands out as being somewhat darker than the norm for this series.]] |
| 290 | ** Sometimes in the first season, the villains' lairs are filmed straight, then later filmed crooked. |
| 291 | * EasyAmnesia: Getting hit on the head causes King Tut to go back and forth between his regular self (a mild-mannered college professor) and his criminal alter ego. Strangely, in "King Tut's Coup", two of his students suffer blows to the head and immediately become his henchmen before he gets hit and regains his Tut persona. |
| 292 | * EekAMouse: In "Nora Clavicle and The Ladies' Crime Club," Nora [[ExploitedTrope exploits]] it by replacing the men on the police force with women and releasing mechanical explosive mice all over Gotham City. All the policewomen can't do anything about it since they either faint or hide on high furniture in fear. Somewhat justified as the women chosen for the police force are all housewives, while an episode from a previous season shows the force ''does'' have women on it. |
| 293 | * ElectionDayEpisode: In "Hizzoner the Penguin"/"Dizzoner the Penguin," the Penguin runs for Mayor of Gotham against incumbent mayor John Linseed, who withdraws from the race and instead runs as the running mate of Batman. [[spoiler:Batman wins the election and then immediately resigns, making Linseed mayor again]]. |
| 294 | * EqualOpportunityEvil |
| 295 | ** Bizarrely, male and female criminals are kept in the same prison, and sometimes even in the same cell blocks! The latter does not go unremarked by Batman in the "Ma Parker" episode, though by that point, Ma Parker had taken over the prison. |
| 296 | ** A few of the villains are pretty enlightened in their treatment of the molls. The Archer's girl, Maid Marilyn, wears pants, speaks in a butch voice (although she's still quite pretty), and serves as the gang's truck driver! |
| 297 | * EscapeArtist: Zelda the Great. |
| 298 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: Adam West often cited a moment from the show's pilot as cementing the show's characterization of Batman and its style of humor, and what got him excited about the project when he first saw the script. When Batman arrives at the discotheque, the bartender asks him if he wants a table in the middle of the action. In response, this 6'2" man in a full-body costume, cape and cowl says "No thank you, I shouldn't wish to attract attention." |
| 299 | * EvenEvilHasStandards |
| 300 | ** Done with a Riddler {{Expy}} called Puzzler when it's suggested they sell a prototype plane to a foreign government: |
| 301 | --->'''Puzzler''': Have you taken leave of your senses?! I may be an Arch Villain, but I'm a naturalized ''American'' Arch Villain. |
| 302 | *** This may have been the basis for a line in the 1996 comic book crossover ''ComicBook/BatmanAndCaptainAmerica''. When Joker discovers ComicBook/RedSkull's affiliation with the Nazis, he flat-out refuses, saying, "I may be a criminal lunatic, but I'm an ''American'' criminal lunatic!" |
| 303 | ** In "Come Back, Shame," when his moll asks him why he can't just shoot the unconscious Batman and Robin plain and simple (see: BondVillainStupidity), Shame - who's an outlaw, but lives by the code of the Old West - says, it wouldn't be fair. Shame also says at one point that he isn't ''all'' bad, just ''mostly'' bad. |
| 304 | ** Joker even shows signs of this by wanting to safely pump out the gas he uses in a DeathTrap in case an innocent passerby runs across it. |
| 305 | * EverybodyLives: The only exceptions are "Smack in the Middle," "A Death Worse Than Fate", and possibly "The Bookworm Turns" as well as ''Film/BatmanTheMovie''. |
| 306 | * EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Miss Iceland from ''Green Ice / Deep Freeze'' is never addressed by her real name. She just might have been the inspiration for the Ice Princess in ''Film/BatmanReturns'', who is also never referred to by name, even on the TV news. |
| 307 | * EvilIsHammy: Perhaps no ''Batman'' incarnation defines this trope as much as this series. '''[[WorldOfHam Everybody,]]''' from the heroes to the villains to the innocent bystanders, are ham sandwiches, but it's the villains that invariably chew the most scenery. The Joker is LaughingMad with extra laughing, and a side of TrrrillingRrrs for good measure. The Riddler goes through fiendish schemes like a kid in a candy store, even managing to out-ham the Joker! And where to even begin with King Tut, who has NoIndoorVoice ''at all?'' |
| 308 | * ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin |
| 309 | ** Try to count the number of buildings, sets, and objects humorously labeled with the same titles the dialogue just gave them. [[spoiler: You will give up.]] This even occasionally extends to henchmen with "Henchman" written on their shirts. |
| 310 | ** Occasionally subverted, as in the Liberace episode, where a strong bare bulb in police headquarters is labelled "Subtle Interrogation Lamp." |
| 311 | * ExactWords: In one episode, the Joker disables Batman and Robin's utility belts, then asks if they're good swimmers. He locks the pair in a tight metal chamber and promises that, if they can stay afloat for an hour, they're free to go. Then the Clown Prince of Crime's goons begin filling the chamber...with toxic gas. As the Joker points out, he never said that he was going to flood the tank with ''water!'' |
| 312 | * ExpoLabel: The series takes this trope and runs with it. |
| 313 | ** Almost everything in the Bat Cave has a label on it, especially with the "Bat" stuff. |
| 314 | ** The Batmobile even has a ''fake'' label: whenever Batman and Robin get out of the car, they cover the label of the "Anti-Theft Activator" with another one reading "Start Button." It's shown working at least once, against the Riddler. |
| 315 | ** Episode "Ma Parker." The cells of Ma Parker and her criminal children each have a label featuring the occupant's name. |
| 316 | ** Someone created a [[http://twitter.com/BatLabels Twitter account]] documenting the show's use of this. |
| 317 | * ExtraExtraReadAllAboutIt: A very old newsboy is cleverly used to HandWave a PlotHole in "Zelda The Great": |
| 318 | -->'''News Boy''' (handling the Gotham City Times Extra with the lines, “Big joke on bank bandit: stolen cash was counterfeit! ''Extra! Extra! Get your newspaper here! Read about the bandit’s stolen counterfeit money, [[ContrivedCoincidence yes, that’s all what he did, steal counterfeit money!]]'' |
| 319 | -->'''Bystander:''' ''Hey, what was counterfeit money doing in the vault of the First National Bank?'' |
| 320 | -->'''News Boy:''' ''Well, if you want to know it, you will have to buy a paper. I am not a special news service.'' |
| 321 | -->Bystander buys paper and leaves. |
| 322 | -->'''News Boy:''' ''And what ''was'' it doing there?'' [[HypocriticalHumor (Reading the paper)]] ''[[HandWave Oh, awaiting at the bank for disposal.]]'' [[BreakingTheFourthWall Looking directly at the camera:]] ''Makes sense.'' |
| 323 | * FaceNodAction: Two of the Bookworm's henchmen in "The Bookworm Turns," before taking a swing at Batman. |
| 324 | * FakeShemp: Dr. Cassandra springs Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman, King Tut, and Egghead from prison to form her criminal gang. This being the low-budget third season, all are played by stand-ins, nobody's face is shown clearly, and none of them have any dialogue (though audio clips of Riddler's maniacal giggling and Penguin's squawking are recycled from earlier episodes). On top of that, they're all given pills which turn them invisible...and then the episode's Batfight takes place mainly in the dark. |
| 325 | * FalselyReformedVillain |
| 326 | ** Very common, particularly with the frequently recurring SpecialGuest Villains. Sometimes played straight (e.g., [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Catwoman Goes To College"]]), but frequently, the trope is only implicit. At the beginning of one episode for example, the Joker is allowed to move about freely and lay the groundwork for his next scheme, Batman and Robin being helpless to act until he commits an actual crime. The details of Joker's parole status, rationale for lack of outstanding arrest warrants, etc. are generally unspecified. |
| 327 | ** Most of Penguin's appearances tend to use this trope to one degree or another, all under the guise of being reformed, and always as a front for some criminal scheme. Two notable occurrences are when he becomes a crime fighter and when he runs for mayor. |
| 328 | * TheFamilyThatSlaysTogether: The Parker clan. |
| 329 | * FatalFlaw: Catwoman's greed leads her to death in her first appearance as she refuses to give up her loot even though it could save her life. Since cats have nine lives, she gets better. She nearly makes the same mistake in her second appearance, except this time Batman helps her come to her senses. |
| 330 | * FauxActionGirl: Considering her skintight outfit, you'd expect Catwoman to be trained in gymnastics or the martial arts (and indeed, she is proficient at both in most other ''Batman'' depictions). However, her fighting skills consist entirely of either trying to scare people by hissing and/or flashing her claws at them, or (in TheMovie) [[CombatPragmatist sneaking up behind people and pushing them off of something]]. |
| 331 | * FilmFelons |
| 332 | ** In a three part adventure, the Penguin is pretending to be producer and director of a film. Batman is not fooled for one second, but plays along to find out what his ultimate scheme is. |
| 333 | ** Played with in "Death in Slow Motion": The Riddler has an evil filmmaker shoot his crimes so he can screen them for a Hollywood producer as a silent-movie comedy. |
| 334 | * FilmOfTheBook: Many of the early episodes are adapted very closely from stories in the comics. |
| 335 | * AFoggyDayInLondonTown: In one series of episodes of ''Batman'' ("The Londinium Larcenies"/"The Foggiest Notion"/"The Bloody Tower"), Batman and Robin travel to Londinium (the Bat-universe's analog to London; actually the Roman name for London) to battle Lord Marmaduke Ffogg and Lady Penelope Peasoup. Not only is Londinium depicted as very foggy much of the time, but Ffogg's weapons are also all fog-based. |
| 336 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: The early episode "Zelda the Great" features a dialogue reference to Catwoman months before the character made her first on-screen appearance. |
| 337 | * FoulFlower: Louie the Lilac makes use of mutant plants (including a carnivorous lilac bush) and gives his henchmen flower-themed names. |
| 338 | * FreakLabAccident: Mr. Freeze's origin; see CreateYourOwnVillain. |
| 339 | * FreezeRay: Mr. Freeze uses one of these in every episode in which he appears. |
| 340 | ** His standard weapon is a rifle-like device that spews out a stream of freezing gas at short range. |
| 341 | ** In the episode pair "Ice Spy"/"The Duo Defy," Mr. Freeze creates an ultra-powerful version called the Thermodynamic Ice Ray Gun that can freeze large areas of effect at long range. |
| 342 | * FrillsOfJustice: A peculiar, Western, non-MagicalGirl example: Batgirl's Batcycle. No, ''[[https://www.66batmania.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/batgirl_cycle1.jpg really.]]'' You'd think the curvier fairing and [[GracefulLadiesLikePurple purple]] paint job would be sufficiently femme... |
| 343 | * FrivolousLawsuit: This is the plot of the pilot episode. The Riddler invokes this when he cleverly tricks the Dynamic Duo into falsely arresting him and then demands Batman pay him a million dollars (in UsefulNotes/TheSixties!). The point is not only the money (Bruce Wayne can afford it), but the fact that Batman must reveal his SecretIdentity to appear in court, thus ruining his SuperHero career. |
| 344 | * FullNameBasis: Bruce is almost always referred to by the narrator and other characters as "Millionaire Bruce Wayne" and Dick as "his youthful ward, Dick Grayson." Contrast NoNameGiven and OnlyOneName below. |
| 345 | [[/folder]] |
| 346 | [[folder:G-L]] |
| 347 | * GadgeteerGenius |
| 348 | ** Batman, probably even more so than his modern counterparts. Batgirl has an impressive repertoire as well. Not to mention the fact that all the villains can get their hands on or design weird gadgets and assemble deathtraps. |
| 349 | ** The Joker in particular has this as a gimmick. A few of his plots involve some new invention of his, such as a box that controls time and a way to emulate an alien invasion. |
| 350 | ** The Penguin is this, but only with umbrella-themed devices. |
| 351 | * GallowsHumor: Surprisingly enough, this happens in "An Egg Grows in Gotham," during the Bat-climb scene, no less. As Batman and Robin climb down the building, a jury foreman [[note]] Bill Dana, playing his famous Hispanic character Jose Jiminez [[/note]] sticks his head out the window and informs them that they've almost decided on a criminal's sentence. A few seconds later, he pokes his head back out, and asks the Dynamic Duo, "Can you leave the rope?" |
| 352 | * GangOfHats: Henchmen always have themed names and costumes related to the SpecialGuest Villain. In the case of frequently-recurring villains, the theme may be more related to the villain's latest scheme than to the villain's own motif. A few illustrative examples: |
| 353 | ** In "Catwoman Goes To College"/"Batman Displays His Knowledge," Catwoman's henchmen wear Gotham City University sweaters and "freshman beanies," and are named Penn, Cornell, and Brown. |
| 354 | ** In "That Darn Catwoman"/"Scat Darn Catwoman," her goons are named after famous literary detectives (Marlowe, Spade, & Templar). |
| 355 | ** In "The Ring of Wax"/"Give 'Em the Axe," the Riddler's henchfolks have candle-themed names (Tallow, Matches, & Moth) in keeping with the wax-museum theme of the caper. |
| 356 | ** Ma Parker and her sons from "The Greatest Mother of Them All"/"Ma Parker" are all named after notorious gangsters from the public enemy era of American history.[[note]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Boy_Floyd Pretty Boy]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_Gun_Kelly Machine Gun]], and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Dog_Coll Mad Dog]] are the sons, while Ma Parker herself combines [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_Barker Ma Barker]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_and_Clyde Bonnie Parker]].[[/note]] |
| 357 | ** The Puzzler's gang, unusually for a one-shot villain, isn't named after puzzles, but rather various modes of flight, due to his plan to steal a high-tech plane. This actually isn't surprising if you know that his episode was originally written for the Riddler. |
| 358 | ** The Mad Hatter's goons are a ''literal'' example. |
| 359 | ** In "Joker's Flying Saucer," Joker's gang members are all named after different shades of green. |
| 360 | ** Subverted in the pilot, where the henchmen are just generic gangster types. |
| 361 | * GenreBlind: |
| 362 | ** In almost every Death Trap of the Week, the villains not only forget to remove Batman's utility belt, but are astounded that the Dynamic Duo subsequently escapes their death traps using improbable items from those same utility belts. On top of that, the villains almost never stick around to make sure Batman and Robin actually die! |
| 363 | *** This sometimes [[SubvertedTrope subverted]], where the villain ''will'' remove the utility belts, stay to watch, [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs or both]]. In these cases, Batman has to work harder to get out of the trap. |
| 364 | ** More tragically is Warden Crichton, who makes earnest attempts to rehabilitate his inmates with little success. Every villain paroled, released, or deemed "rehabilitated" ends up back in Gotham Prison within two days of being deemed fit for society again. |
| 365 | * GenreSavvy: Despite normally being GenreBlind as mentioned above, a few criminals have caught on to some of Batman's tricks, like climbing up the wall to get into a hideout, and set up traps in preparation. |
| 366 | * GigglingVillain: Strangely enough, The Riddler more so than The Joker. This is the portrayal on which Jim Carrey [[Film/BatmanForever based his own performance of the Riddler.]] |
| 367 | * GlassShatteringSound: Batman and Robin get trapped in a special glass in the second season which amplifies sound waves. They break the glass by using their voices. |
| 368 | * GrapesOfLuxury: King Tut gets this treatment at one point. |
| 369 | * TheGreatWhodini: Zelda the Great, in her eponymous episode. |
| 370 | * HairTriggerTemper: Adding to the menace of Gorshin's Riddler is the way Gorshin portrays him as seemingly always on the verge of snapping completely. |
| 371 | * {{Hammerspace}} |
| 372 | ** Batman is able to store objects of any size in the small pouches in his belt or hide them under his cape, even the massive Bat-shield, or the Empty Alphabet Soup Bat-container and Batfunnel. Occasionally the pouches are briefly much larger or even suddenly covered in controls or labels if he has to use gadgets from his belt on-camera, but by the next shot, the belt is back to normal. |
| 373 | ** Robin's and Riddler's belts/girdles on their costumes also seem to store things despite having no pouches and being flush against their skin. |
| 374 | * HarmlessFreezing: Partially averted with Mr. Freeze's FreezeRay. In his first appearance, those who are hit by it are nearly killed. In later appearances, Freeze rarely uses it thanks to [[CrazyPrepared precautions]] taken by Batman. In his second appearance, Miss Iceland is put in a block of ice, and when she comes out, she's okay. |
| 375 | * HatsOffToTheDead: Averted. In his autobiography, Creator/AdamWest talks about how they initially wanted Batman to remove his cowl when a character died in front of him as a mark of respect, but it took too long to remove the tightly fitted costume piece on camera, so the idea was nixed. |
| 376 | * HaveAGayOldTime: In "The Joker Trumps an Ace," Joker labels his van as "Let Gayfellow Take You To The Cleaners!" to disguise it. Obviously 'gay fellow' was meant to be a pun on the Joker's cheerful nature, but given that his actor was a "confirmed bachelor," it can make one chuckle. |
| 377 | * HellholePrison: Averted. Warden Crichton is known for his earnest attempts to rehabilitate the inmates, though Batman and the police occasionally worry that he's not being strict enough given the nature of many of the inmates. |
| 378 | * [[SheWillComeForMe He Won't Come For Me]]: Catwoman once holds Batgirl captive to lure Batman out of the way. Batgirl says he won't save her because stopping Catwoman would be a priority. Although technically true, Batman still [[TakeAThirdOption sends somebody else to rescue her]]. |
| 379 | * HighHeelFaceTurn: '''Constantly''', though usually only with molls. The digital comic continuation undoes several of these, sometimes without explanation. |
| 380 | * TheHitFlash: The on-screen fight sound effects, one of the show's defining tropes, as The Dynamic Duo would [[WesternAnimation/TheLEGOBatmanMovie hit the bad guys so hard that "KAPOW!", "ZAP!", "BLAMMOW!", "ETC.!" would spontaneously materialize on-screen as colorful cue-cards.]] Due to the show's popularity, children of the 1960's-1980's often cited the show in English classes as an example of onomatopoeia that they could easily identify with. |
| 381 | * HoldingBothSidesOfTheConversation: Batman and Bruce Wayne [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgCkmUS1IYI have a phone conversation]]. |
| 382 | * HollywoodGlassCutter: Used often by various criminals. For one example, in "The Purr-Fect Crime," Catwoman uses her glove/claws to carve a hole through a museum display case. |
| 383 | * HollywoodTorches: In the episodes "The Bloody Tower" and "Marsha's Scheme With Diamonds." |
| 384 | * HonorBeforeReason: Batman's respect for the Gotham judicial system and belief in humanity's basic goodness -- despite all of his direct in-series experience otherwise -- often leaves him a reactive rather than proactive crimefighter. |
| 385 | ** When Batman tracks down the stolen Batmobile in "The Catwoman Goeth," [[LawfulStupid he receives vehicle citations for an incomplete registration, keys left in the ignition, and failure to report the theft]]. The dimwitted officer wants to impound the Batmobile and haul Batman back to police headquarters. Despite the absurdity of the situation, Batman is still willing to comply, but fortunately the officer's savvy partner returns Batman's keys to him instead. |
| 386 | ** In "The Cat and the Fiddle," even though no Gotham cops would give them a ticket for it and the Dynamic Duo are rushing to a potential crime scene, Batman still takes the time to feed the parking meter '''and''' laboriously instruct the impatient Robin that it's the right thing to do, because that money goes toward maintaining civic infrastructure. |
| 387 | ** This crosses with LawfulStupid, as when Batman stops to follow the law, no matter how small or insignificant the law is, he also stops whatever he's doing to instruct Robin or a nearby citizen in why the law must be followed at all times and how said law benefits society, as it's a citizen's "good civic duty" to do so. The Bright Knight regards such instruction as his honorable duty not only as a duly-sworn agent of the law and Gotham citizen, but as Robin's legal guardian. |
| 388 | * HotLibrarian: Barbara Gordon. |
| 389 | * HumanKnot: Batman, Robin, and Batgirl are tied in a "Siamese Human Knot" by Nora Clavicle. |
| 390 | -->"''The slightest move by any one of you will only draw the Human Knot tighter, crush your bones, and strangle you!''" |
| 391 | * HumanOutsideAlienInside: Mr. Freeze in his first appearance, where (when not wearing his protective suit) he is simply a middle-aged German man who must be exposed to subzero temperatures at all times (and Batman even refers to him by his "human" name on two occasions). Subsequent appearances (by different actors) show him much more grotesquely, resembling the redeemed Darth Vader at the end of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' in his second episode, and being almost vampiric in appearance in his third and final episode. One suspects that either Freeze's condition must have worsened, or his body mutated in order to more comfortably adapt to his surroundings. |
| 392 | * HumiliationConga: "Flop Goes the Joker": using a fire poker, Alfred utterly schools Joker at fencing, then traps him on the Batpole elevators and sends him shrieking up and down for a good five minutes. |
| 393 | * TheHyena: Primarily Riddler, secondarily Joker. |
| 394 | * HypocriticalHumor: When the Duo briefly bumps into The Green Hornet and Kato in "The Spell of Tut," Robin tells Batman he can't understand what they're doing in "those ridiculous costumes." |
| 395 | %%**--> '''Gordon''': You know I'm violently opposed to police brutality! [Ed: Explain why this is hypocritical. Gordon never displays brutality.] |
| 396 | * ICanChangeMyBeloved: In one episode, the Penguin becomes engaged to a woman who's convinced of this. She's wrong. |
| 397 | * IKnowYouKnowIKnow: Used ''constantly''. A good chunk of the screen-time in every adventure consists of Batman deliberately walking into traps and setups so he can find out what the villains are up to, and the villains counteracting ''that''. |
| 398 | * IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Two-Thirds of the Time/The Titles Would Rhyme. This was dropped in the final season due to the format changing from two-parters to mostly one-off episodes. |
| 399 | * IdiosyncraticWipes: The "Bat Signal over a spinning background" wipe is one of the show's most distinctive and oft-imitated features. |
| 400 | * ImprovisedWeapon: A staple of the fight choreography for both heroes and villains. |
| 401 | * ImprovisedZipline: The Penguin and his henchmen in "The Penguin's A Jinx," and Batman and Robin in "Batman Sets The Pace." |
| 402 | * InsaneTrollLogic |
| 403 | ** Batman's {{Bat Deduction}}s are often farfetched enough to rise to this level. |
| 404 | ** The villains also have their moments. In one classic moment, Batman and the Penguin are running for mayor of Gotham City, and the Penguin argues that he is more trustworthy because Batman is often in close contact with criminals while he himself is often surrounded by police. |
| 405 | * InsistentTerminology: It is (almost) ''always'' "Stately Wayne Manor". |
| 406 | --> '''Suzy Knickerbocker:''' ''Oh, I don't know, Boy Wonder, I hear millionaire Bruce Wayne is really one of the hippies. All that marvelous money and fantastic'' Wayne Manor. |
| 407 | --> '''Batman:''' Stately ''Wayne Manor''. |
| 408 | ** There is one exception: in "Penguin's a Fink," it is just called Wayne Manor. |
| 409 | ** In "Fine Finny Fiends"/"Batman Makes the Scenes," even the surveillance camera monitor for stately Wayne Manor is labelled "Stately Wayne Manor." |
| 410 | * InstantCostumeChange: All Bruce and Dick have to do is [[ToTheBatpole slide down the Batpoles]] and it's "Holy costume change!" |
| 411 | * InvincibleHero |
| 412 | ** Each CliffHanger leaves Batman and Robin in mortal peril! Yet they always ingeniously escape! |
| 413 | ** This is double subverted at least once. In the episode where the Mad Hatter is using radioactive chemicals to terrorize Gotham, he locks Batman and Robin inside a "fluoroscopic cabinet" to have their flesh burned off by deadly radiation. His plan appears to have worked: we see two skeletons (actually dummies) wearing the heroes' costumes inside the cabinet. Once the "bodies" are discovered, a wave of horror and grief sweeps the entire world; even Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara burst into tears. Finally, Batman and Robin come out of hiding and explain that they had indeed escaped; they had merely left the skeletons behind as decoys in order to fool the Mad Hatter and his goons. |
| 414 | ** Also {{Lampshaded}} in the beginning of the second season. After the customary near escape, Robin exclaims that this time, he was really worried. Batman replies that he himself was not scared one bit. Robin concludes that they must be smarter than the criminals. Batman says that he prefers to believe it's because they're pure at heart. |
| 415 | * [[InvisibleMonsters Invisible Villains]]: For when your budget is just too damn small to hire the characters' actual actors or stuntmen to play them in a fight. |
| 416 | * JuryAndWitnessTampering: In one episode, a jury declares the Joker and Catwoman innocent in spite of their lawyer doing nothing to defend them. When the foreman's phony mustache comes off, Batman recognizes him as one of the villains' henchmen and pays enough attention to the other jurors to recognize them as other henchmen. |
| 417 | * KneelBeforeZod: In "The Spell of Tut," King Tut does this to Robin. |
| 418 | * KnockoutGas: An ''extremely'' common weapon on the show, in a variety of forms and colors. Most often used by the villains, but Batman and Robin use it as well in the form of "Bat-Sleep," most often to transport characters to and from the Batcave without them learning its secret location. |
| 419 | * LampshadeHanging: The "Instant Costume Change Lever" that shows up near the Batpoles in the second season. How does it work? [[RuleOfCool It just does.]] |
| 420 | * LargeHam |
| 421 | ** Everybody. That's right - [[WorldOfHam EVERYBODY]]. Even Batman himself, despite (or perhaps because of) being TheComicallySerious. |
| 422 | ** Not so much with Alfred, though he does have his moments. |
| 423 | ** Penguin's comparatively subdued, too, and comes off as more of a serious threat because of it. |
| 424 | * LatexPerfection: Although False Face is supposed to be an expert at this, pretty much anyone in this series can pull it off. |
| 425 | ** Episode "Smack in the Middle": the Riddler's henchwoman Molly puts on a mask made from Robin's face and perfectly masquerades as him. |
| 426 | ** Episode "Batman Sets the Pace": at the end of the episode, a mask is pulled off the face of the Maharajah of Nimpa, revealing him to be the Joker in disguise. |
| 427 | * LaughingMad: The Joker (of course), but ''especially'' the Riddler. |
| 428 | * LaughTrack |
| 429 | ** Used in-universe by The Archer. He claims to have stolen it from a producer "of so-called comedies." |
| 430 | ** Also briefly used out-of-universe when the producers of the show screened the first episode for a test audience with a laugh track, but wisely gave up on the idea after it got a negative reaction. |
| 431 | * LawfulStupid: Both Batman and the police. [[PoliceAreUseless The Gotham cops are stupid in general, really,]]: |
| 432 | ** When the Joker shows up at Woodrow Roosevelt High School just to taunt the Dynamic Duo, Batman is reluctantly forced to let him go. Not only is he out on parole and there's not enough evidence to justify his arrest on suspicion of vandalism, but Joker points out he can't even be picked up for loitering if he changes location every two minutes. Batman even hisses, "You jailhouse lawyer!" |
| 433 | ** In another episode, Egghead becomes Commissioner (ItMakesSenseInContext) and forbids the police to arrest any of his friends. The cops go along with this to the extent that when someone reports a theft, the officer in question charges him with jaywalking. Chief O'Hara even casually states that if he sees Batman and Robin, he has orders to shoot! |
| 434 | ** In "Marsha, Queen of Diamonds," the titular villainess gets Chief O'Hara under her spell with a love potion. When O'Hara orders his men to allow Marsha inside the diamond exhibition, they are surprised but nevertheless follow his orders. |
| 435 | ** The plot of "Enter Batgirl, Exit Penguin" hinges on Penguin kidnapping Barbara Gordon and forcing her to marry him, with the expectation that as Commissioner Gordon's son-in-law, he'll be free to commit as many crimes as he pleases. Even ignoring that the marriage is transparently nonconsensual on Barbara's part, there's no explanation given as to ''why'' the Commissioner wouldn't be able to arrest his new son-in-law; all of the good guys, including the Commissioner himself, just assume they'll have no choice but to let nepotism prevail if the marriage goes through. It barely even qualifies as "lawful" stupid. |
| 436 | * LeaningOnTheFourthWall: When praising Batman, Commissioner Gordon often looks right into the camera. Batman sometimes does so as well when speechifying. |
| 437 | * {{Leitmotif}}: Most of the major characters (including the villains) have one. |
| 438 | * LemonyNarrator: William Dozier, [[DescendedCreator the show's executive producer]], provides the memorable yet uncredited narration. |
| 439 | * LighterAndSofter: As well as brighter and more colorful. The {{irony}} is that, given the [[MediaNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks state of the comics at the time of the TV series]], this was a very accurate adaptation, or even DarkerAndEdgier.[[note]]For example, the second episode has a character die by ''falling into a nuclear reactor'', a more gruesome end than anything that would've been depicted in the comics at the time.[[/note]] It was only in later adaptations that Batman would be SeriousBusiness. |
| 440 | * LimitedWardrobe: Exaggerated when Catwoman wears her costume to her ''parole hearing'' and subsequent college classes. |
| 441 | * LiterallyShatteredLives: ''"Instant Freeze"'': Mr. Freeze does this to a employee at the Princess Sandra’s Hotel. Despite this, the next episode reveals that ''somehow'' he survived anyway. |
| 442 | * LivingProp: LargeHam King Tut madly screams his dialogue into the ear of one of the beautiful mute LivingProp slave girls of his harem. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTQ0RHE8ZhA She doesn’t change her indifferent expression.]] |
| 443 | * LockedOutOfTheLoop: Despite living in Wayne Manor, Aunt Harriet has no idea the Batcave is under it or that Bruce and Dick are Batman and Robin. |
| 444 | * LoveMakesYouStupid: Bruce Wayne is on the local parole board, so he uses his influence to get Catwoman an early release and oversee her case personally as her parole officer in hopes that he can finally rehabilitate her. Sadly for both parties, it doesn't work. |
| 445 | * LoveRedeems: Batman really wants to use Catwoman's feelings for him to turn her good. |
| 446 | [[/folder]] |
| 447 | [[folder:M-R]] |
| 448 | * MadArtist |
| 449 | ** Bookworm is an author variant. His BerserkButton is his inability to get published due to his lack of originality. |
| 450 | ** In one set of episodes, the Joker inadvertently starts his own art movement and then runs with it. |
| 451 | * MagicalDatabase: The Bat Computer and Batman's own impressive scope of knowledge, both general and esoteric. |
| 452 | * MagicCountdown: In "While Gotham City Burns," Batman and Chief O'Hara have only a minute to save Robin from being killed in a DeathTrap. |
| 453 | * MasterOfDisguise: |
| 454 | ** False Face. |
| 455 | ** Joker is described as such in his first appearance. He uses it later to good advantage, imitating a rich, corpulent Maharajah. |
| 456 | * MayorPain: While Mayor Linseed is rarely seen doing much (or seen, ''period''), he's generally painted as not much more competent than Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara. In Season 3 he replaces Gordon with Special Guest Villainess Nora Clavicle, who's much, ''much'' worse than Gordon. |
| 457 | ** The Penguin ''promises'' to be this if he's elected Mayor, threatening to replace Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara with Riddler and Joker. |
| 458 | * MeaningfulName: Tons. A few examples: Lord Marmaduke F'''fog'''g and Mrs. Max '''Black, widow'''; Pat Pending, the richest inventor on Earth; etc. |
| 459 | * MickeyMousing: The fight scenes tend to feature brash, brass-heavy music, which provides a stinger chord for every heavy blow that lands. |
| 460 | * MidseasonReplacement: This series was one of the first significant examples. |
| 461 | * MilitariesAreUseless: In "Penguin Sets a Trend," they turn out to be even more useless than the police (which is quite an incredible feat). Despite working in high positions at "the Hexagon," General [=Mac=]Gruder and Major Beasley are incredibly stupid and narcissistic. They allow the Penguin inside top secret areas when he promises them movie contracts and are completely baffled when the arch criminal steals confidential documents. They summon a group of troops who turn out to be completely useless against the Penguin's thugs. |
| 462 | * MoodKiller: Episode "The Bat's Kow Tow" concludes with Batman and Catwoman {{almost kiss}}ing when Robin, offscreen, shouts out something along the lines of "C'mon, Batman! The police are here!" Catwoman, in a contained fury, grumbles, "Boy Blunder!" |
| 463 | * MoodSwinger: King Tut and Riddler. |
| 464 | * {{Mooks}}: They're lousy fighters, with only the occasional one ever landing a punch. On the other hand, they ARE snappy dressers, with cute Halloween costumes and even nicknames that play off the villain's gimmick or the theme of the show (resulting in a GangOfHats). However, they do often manage to get in decisive blows when it counts, i.e. when it's near the end of part one and the Caped Crusaders have to be knocked out and placed in the deathtrap ''du jour''. |
| 465 | * TheMovie: ''Film/BatmanTheMovie'', released in 1966 between the first and second seasons. |
| 466 | * MsFanservice |
| 467 | ** Batgirl was added in the third season in large part for this. |
| 468 | ** One shouldn't discount any of the three Catwomen (Creator/JulieNewmar, Creator/EarthaKitt, and in the movie, Creator/LeeMeriwether) either. |
| 469 | ** Many villains have one female henchperson who provides nothing to the circumstances other than eye candy. |
| 470 | ** Marsha, Queen of Diamonds, nearly ends up naked in her second appearance - and onscreen, too, with only a flimsy veil protecting her modesty! |
| 471 | * MurderByCremation: Episode "Fine Feathered Finks": the cliffhanger ending has Bruce Wayne captured in a net, rendered unconscious by Penguin gas, and put on a conveyor belt to be run into a 10,000 degree furnace. In the next episode, "The Penguin's a Jinx," he wakes up and barely escapes by flinging a cigarette lighter into the furnace, creating an explosion which knocks him off the conveyor belt...instead of just, you know...[[CombatAestheticist rolling off of the conveyor belt himself with minimal effort.]] |
| 472 | * MysteriousPast |
| 473 | ** Averted with the Joker. His past is well-known to Batman and the police department, though the audience is only told that he was once a conjurer and hypnotist of repute. |
| 474 | ** Batman and Robin are never given [[SuperheroOrigin origin stories]], oddly enough, aside from a brief mention in the pilot that Bruce Wayne's parents were killed by "criminals." Granted, their origins are pretty dark and likely unfit for a show like this. |
| 475 | * MythologyGag: In "Pop Goes The Joker," mention is made of an in-universe painting called ''The Man Who Laughs'', in named after the real-life film that inspired Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson to create the Joker. |
| 476 | * TheNapoleon: The Penguin, played by Burgess Meredith. |
| 477 | * NegativeContinuity: The show doesn't take much seriously, and continuity is no exception. In particular, one could almost make a drinking game out of how many times the arch-villains meet Alfred "for the first time." |
| 478 | * NephariousPharaoh: King Tut, one of the supervillains. He wears clothing appropriate for a pharaoh and likes to use Egyptian-themed dialogue. He's actually Professor William [=McElroy=], an Egyptologist at Yale University. Every time he gets hit on the head he develops a split personality that thinks he's a reincarnation of the original King Tut. Hitting him on the head again restores his original personality. |
| 479 | * NeutralFemale |
| 480 | ** The typical gun moll in the series usually stands around during the fights like a complete ninny. Even Catwoman and the other female villains (as well as older villains who wouldn't be expected to be physical) stand back and let the Mooks do the fighting. The only woman who actively participates in the fisticuffs is Batgirl, (or footicuffs, since as noted above she was limited to kicks). |
| 481 | ** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] once with a moll who steals a cop's gun and tries to shoot the Dynamic Duo, and in the pilot where the Riddler's moll, Molly, actually tries to shoot Batman. |
| 482 | ** Chandell (Liberace)[[note]]or, technically, Chandell's EvilTwin brother[[/note]], being savvier than your average criminal mastermind, has a trio of female henchmen. When it comes time for Batman and Robin to fight the male Mooks, the women do everything they can to get between the Dynamic Duo and the mooks. Batman and Robin have to pull their punches [[WouldntHitAGirl to avoid hitting the women]], leaving them open to the mooks' attacks. |
| 483 | ** Averted in several more episodes where instead of standing around, a moll [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere runs away during the fight]], or at least tries to. |
| 484 | ** Shame's moll Oakie Annie averts this. She has a gun like the rest of Shame's gang, and during the first fight with Batman, she contributes heavily to Shame's victory by shooting a chandelier that drops on Batman's head. |
| 485 | * NeverFoundTheBody: |
| 486 | ** "Better Luck Next Time": Catwoman falls into what Batman says is a bottomless pit, and he says that she probably went straight to the bottom. She re-appears in the second season episode "Hot Off the Griddle." |
| 487 | ** "Scat! Darn Catwoman": at the end of the episode, Catwoman falls off a building into a river. Her body is never recovered and Batman says he doesn't "think she'll be bothering us anymore," so he considers her to be dead. However, she appears again in the episode "Catwoman Goes to College." |
| 488 | * NeverRecycleABuilding: Gotham City has some serious problems with abandoned factories and warehouses. It's almost like they ''want'' these places to be taken over by criminals... |
| 489 | * NobodyCallsMeChicken: |
| 490 | ** West's Batman is unusually susceptible to this, since unlike his cross-continuity brethren, he's a public figure who needs a sterling reputation. |
| 491 | ** In "Pop Goes The Joker/Flop Goes The Joker," Joker calls Batman "chickenhearted" for letting Robin show up alone to rescue hostages and later talks smack about him with Batman [[RightBehindMe listening behind him]] and Gordon on the line. Leads to a Crowning Moment of Funny with the Joker OutGambitted and [[HumiliationConga utterly humiliated]]. |
| 492 | ** Similar taunts lead to Batman's (reluctant) participation in both the boxing match in "Ring Around the Riddler" and the infamous surfing contest from "Surf's Up! Joker's Under!" |
| 493 | ** Batman actually ''uses'' this tactic on Shame in "The Great Train Robbery" after all other ways to find Shame's gang have failed. |
| 494 | * NobodyHereButUsStatues: Used by Riddler and co. to surprise the Dynamic Duo in a wax museum. |
| 495 | * NoCelebritiesWereHarmed |
| 496 | ** Mayor Linseed is a takeoff on the name of the mayor of New York City at that time, John Lindsey. |
| 497 | ** Queenie (Nancy Kovack), the Joker's moll during his first appearance in the third episode, is a pretty obvious imitation of Creator/MarilynMonroe: her voice, makeup, facial tics, and even some of the costumes she wears are direct or nearly direct references to her. |
| 498 | * NoIndoorVoice: Mr. Freeze as played by Eli Wallach. |
| 499 | * NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine: In "Rats Like Cheese," Mister Freeze have Batman and Robin as dinner guests. |
| 500 | * NoNameGiven: Most of the villains, mooks, and molls go exclusively by their villain names, even when they supposedly reform (the Penguin ''runs for Mayor'' as "Penguin"). The real names we know from the comics (Oswald Cobblepot, Edward Nygma, Selina Kyle, etc.) are never used. Notable aversions: |
| 501 | ** King Tut, whose harmless professor alter ego is named William [=McElroy=]. |
| 502 | ** The Mad Hatter, who is frequently referred to by his real name, Jervis Tetch. |
| 503 | ** Mr. Freeze is identified (only once) as Dr. Shivel (it was ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' that coined the Victor Fries identity). |
| 504 | ** Black Widow is Mrs. Max Black, widow, though this is something of a double subversion as Max Black was her late husband's name, and it's not uncommon for wives to sometimes go by "Mrs. (Husband's Name)." |
| 505 | ** Lord Marmaduke Ffogg and Lady Penelope Peasoup have no villain names at all, although [[StevenUlyssesPerhero they hardly need them]]. |
| 506 | ** The ice skater Glacia Glaze (one of Mr. Freeze's molls) was born "Emma Strunk" and is outraged and humiliated when [[IKnowYourTrueName Batman mentions the name]] as she's being arrested. Lola Lasagne, the Extra Special Guest Villainess from Penguin's second season three appearance, is a similar case in that she was born Lulu Schultz, but changed her name upon her short-lived marriage to Luigi Lasagne. |
| 507 | ** Complete inversion: Nora Clavicle, a female politician, is the only "normal" guest villain during the series's entire run and never adopts an alias - not that she really needs to, since [[VillainWithGoodPublicity she has the backing of the mayor's wife and has her coerce her husband into making Clavicle the new Police Commissioner]]! |
| 508 | ** Non-villain example: Miss Iceland is only ever referred to by her title, not her name. |
| 509 | * NoSeatBelts: That was an early criticism about the show, with the Dynamic Duo never belting up in the Batmobile in the early episodes. Considering that kind of car safety feature was still relatively new, the producers thought the heroes taking the time to belt themselves would be funny enough to fit their goodie two-shoes shtick and later included a quick scene of them doing so in the car. As it happens, the joke's effect was lost and the show was praised widely for encouraging the use of such an important auto safety function. |
| 510 | * NoodleIncident: In "A Penguin Is A Girl's Best Friend," a movie-making Penguin puts a scene in his script that is censored at the last moment on grounds of being indecent. It's never made clear exactly what was there, but it involves a milk bath, Batman, and Marsha Queen of Diamonds wearing [[DiamondsInTheBuff exactly three large diamonds]] on parts unknown. |
| 511 | * NotaryNonsense: The criminal illusionist Zelda the Great always steals $100,000 from the bank every year on April 1. After failing to catch her, Commissioner Gordon asks Batman and Robin for their help. Batman crafts a plan where he plants a phony news story that the $100k was actually counterfeit money, being held in the bank until it could be destroyed, hoping to tempt her into stealing again while setting a trap for her. (She sees through the trap and instead kidnaps Aunt Harriet, holding her for $100k in ransom.) Trying to get her to give herself up and turn on her corrupt business partner, Gordon goes on live television to announce that the stolen money ''was'' real and holds up a phony newspaper story from the Gotham Times with a quote from the bank manager as proof, stating "Look, it's signed and notarized!" Even for a Batman/police ploy to catch a villain, notarizing a newspaper page falls well within the sphere of nonsensical. |
| 512 | * NotMyDriver: Egghead does this to Bruce Wayne in "An Egg Grows in Gotham." |
| 513 | * NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Since the show relied primarily on stock TV actors even for foreign parts, this was inevitable. |
| 514 | ** The California-born Elisha Cook Jr. plays a scientist from Iceland in the final Mr. Freeze episode - and never makes an attempt to sound Icelandic (kinda Norwegian, kinda Irish). Especially unforgivable since any stock Scandinavian accent would have worked better than no accent at all. |
| 515 | *** In another Mr. Freeze episode, American actress Dee Hartford plays a foreign beauty contestant, also from Iceland, but speaks with her native accent as well. |
| 516 | ** It happens in-universe and is [[PlayedForLaughs played for laughs]] in "Shoot a Crooked Arrow" / "Walk the Straight and Narrow." The Archer and his two henchmen (Crier Tuck and Big John) speak with a Medievalesque British accent, which is part of their "show." However, his moll, Maid Marilyn, does not care for such theatrics and speaks with her usual American accent. She mocks her boss for his speech mannerisms and accent while he angrily tells her to "speak proper English." |
| 517 | ** An inverted example: in the second Shame storyline, Creator/HermioneBaddeley doesn't try too hard to cover up her English accent while portraying (presumably American) Frontier Fanny. Meanwhile, Creator/BarryDennen plays a Mexican ''bandito'' whose whole character is one big {{Brownface}} joke, down to the English accent and his initials spelling out "FRED." |
| 518 | ** Double-subverted by Victor Buono, who was American but was fairly convincing as a supposedly British history professor. However, in his alter ego of King Tut, he sometimes lapses into stereotypical American [[PlayedForLaughs (for laughs, probably)]]. |
| 519 | * NotablyQuickDeliberation: One episode ends with the Joker and Catwoman being tried. Their lawyer doesn't cross-examine any witnesses brought by the prosecution and doesn't try to introduce any evidence that could help his clients, so it's not much of a surprise that the jury's leader declares there's no need to step out of the court to deliberate. [[spoiler:The surprise is that they decide to acquit the defendants. When said juror's mustache starts falling off, Batman figures out Catwoman and the Joker had their henchmen put on the jury and they end up being arrested.]] |
| 520 | * OddNameOut: "Marsha, Queen of Diamonds" features police officers [[IrishmanAndAJew O'Hara, O'Toole, O'Rourke, O'Leary, and Goldberg]]. |
| 521 | * OfficerOHara: The whimsically Oirish Chief O'Hara was a prominent and recurring example, and he wasn't the only Irish cop to appear on the show, as seen above. (Amusingly, the role of O'Toole above was played by a real-life O'Hara: James O'Hara.) |
| 522 | * OffscreenVillainDarkMatter: Used with abandon, considering the seemingly limitless amount of henchmen and wacky inventions all the arch-criminals have at their disposal. Batgirl arguably uses a heroic variant since it's not clear how a librarian (even one who is the Police Commissioner's daughter) could afford so many gadgets, including a motorcycle with a ''built-in Geiger counter''. |
| 523 | * OnlyOneName: Alfred was never given a last name (since the character's official last name of Pennyworth wasn't established in the comics until 1969). Commissioner [[note]] James [[/note]] Gordon and Chief O'Hara had no first names, nor did recurring characters Warden Crichton and Mayor Linseed. |
| 524 | * OnTheNextEpisodeOfCatchPhrase |
| 525 | ** "Same bat-time...same bat-channel!" Episodes featuring Catwoman altered the phrase to "Same ''cat''-time...same ''cat''-channel!" |
| 526 | ** In Shame's first appearance, it was "''Shame'' time...''shame'' channel!" |
| 527 | ** The cliffhanger of the Minstrel episode had the Dynamic Duo roasting on a spit. The line became "Same ''hot''-time...same ''hot''-channel!" |
| 528 | * OutGambitted |
| 529 | ** In one episode, both the Joker and the Penguin consider themselves victorious for seeing the inside of the Bat Cave, until Batman points out that they still have no idea where it actually ''is''. |
| 530 | ** The last half of "Flop Goes The Joker." |
| 531 | * {{Outlaw}}: Shame and his gang, as well as Ma Parker and her kids. |
| 532 | * PaidHarem: If the villain of the week is male, expect him to have a pretty girl whose primary job is to be decorative hanging around his hideout. |
| 533 | * PalmFistTap: Robin does this quite often, usually accompanied by a "Holy ____!" exclamation. |
| 534 | * PaperThinDisguise: Common. ComicBook/TheJoker in particular is sometimes able to fool people by simply ''wearing a hat''...while wearing his suit and clownface makeup, and without changing his voice. Gothamites are kinda dumb. |
| 535 | * ParentalBonus: The show's initial success was based on this. The early episodes were full of LampshadeHanging, DeconstructiveParody, and {{Fanservice}} for adults, but also worked as straightforward superhero adventures for kids. |
| 536 | * ParodyAssistance: An aversion: three years after Shelly Winters appeared in an episode of ''Batman'' as Ma Parker, spoofing Ma Barker (and the infamous Barker family shootout), ''Creator/RogerCorman'' cast Winters in the film [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Mama Bloody Mama]] as Ma Barker. |
| 537 | * PercussivePickpocket: "The Joker's Last Laugh": the Joker (a "master conjurer," [[InformedAttribute according to Batman]]) bumps into Commissioner Gordon on the subway and manages to not only switch his cufflinks but also wrap several feet of antenna around Gordon's waist and down his pants leg! |
| 538 | * PerpSweating: In the episode "The Dead Ringers," Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara put Harry (Chandell's EvilTwin brother) under a bright light (which is labelled ''[[HypocriticalHumor subtle interrogation lamp]]'') while questioning him. |
| 539 | * PlungerDetonator: "While Gotham City Burns": the Gotham City police use one to blow open a giant, steel book replica and free the Dynamic Duo. |
| 540 | * PoliceAreUseless: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in "The Devil's Fingers" when it seems like Batman and Robin aren't available to fight the special guest villain: |
| 541 | --> '''Chief O'Hara''': If you're thinkin' what I'm afraid you're thinkin'... |
| 542 | --> '''Commissioner Gordon''': Precisely, Chief O'Hara. The moment we've dreaded for years has arrived. This time, we're going to have to solve a case ourselves! |
| 543 | ** Later in the same episode, it's shown that their idea of how to fight crime without Batman is putting ''snipers with machine guns'' in the boxes of a crowded theatre. |
| 544 | --->'''Commissioner Gordon''': At the first sign of criminal activity, make every bullet count! |
| 545 | ** On a handful of occasions they ''do'' try to be proactive and occasionally get to act as TheCavalry, but it's generally agreed that their competence had gone right into the gutter by season three. |
| 546 | ** They can come through as truly stupid at times. In "Marsha's Scheme of Diamonds," Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara believe without a shade of doubt that Marsha has turned Batman and Robin into toads (which is actually a trick done by her ventriloquist henchman). |
| 547 | * PoliticiansKissBabies: Played straight when the Penguin runs for Mayor of Gotham and kisses babies. Averted by Batman, who is running against him and refuses to kiss babies because he doesn't want to spread germs. This winds up giving Batman an anti-children reputation and hurting his campaign despite the fact that ''the very reason he doesn't kiss them is because he's concerned about their health and wellbeing.'' Again...Gothamites are kinda dumb. |
| 548 | * PragmaticAdaptation |
| 549 | ** Presumably since exploring the origin as present in the comics would be too dark, Bruce Wayne's parents are merely stated as having been killed by "criminals" (possibly multiple ones), rather than going into detail. Curiously, Thomas Wayne is also implied to have been a lawyer, not a doctor, in the pilot. Given that the show is all about squeaky-clean heroes, the son of a doctor shouldn't be someone engaging in violence constantly. |
| 550 | ** Sometimes present with some of the episodes that are based on actual comic stories. "Fine Feathered Finks"/"The Penguin's A Jinx," for instance, ditches the third act of the comic story "Partners in Plunder!" to give a somewhat more budget-conscious target. [[note]]In the original story, the jeweled meteorite IS the actual target in the climax, leading into a jet-umbrella chase that may have been a little beyond the show's budget. In the episode, the meteorite is quickly dismissed by Batman and instead he suggests (unwittingly) to the Penguin to target a visiting movie star, allowing for fisticuffs in and around her penthouse. They also shaved off a small subplot where Penguin [[{{Troll}} trolls]] Batman by shifting his monocle to the other eye just to rile Batman's paranoia[[/note]] Similarly, "The Riddler's Strange Notion"/"Death in Slow Motion" was a rewrite of "The Joker's Comedy Capers," starring [[CaptainObvious three guesses who]] instead of the Riddler. The reason for the change probably comes down to the fact that in both versions, the villain is impersonating silent film stars [[note]] Creator/CharlieChaplin in both, and in the comics, Joker also impersonates Creator/BusterKeaton, Creator/HaroldLloyd, and [[Creator/MarxBrothers Harpo Marx]] (or at least NoCelebritiesWereHarmed versions) as well in other silent-themed crimes[[/note]], and the ''Batman'' staff had [[Creator/FrankGorshin a talented impressionist]] on the cast, just not playing [[Creator/CesarRomero The Joker]]. |
| 551 | * PrettyInMink: A few furs, such as a white mink worn by Marsha, Queen of Diamonds. |
| 552 | * ThePrimaDonna: Parodied with Dawn Robbins from ''The Penguin's A Jinx'': |
| 553 | --> ''Oh, what a drag it is being a famous movie star and so rich. [[NothingExcitingEverHappensHere Why doesn't anything exciting ever happen to me?]]'' |
| 554 | * PsychicStatic: Egghead tries to use a mind reading machine on Bruce Wayne, looking for proof that he is Batman; instead, all he reads is inane trivia, so he decides Bruce can't possibly be Batman. |
| 555 | * PublicSecretMessage: Batman talks to King Tut over a broadcast radio station, but he requests that all other citizens of Gotham switch off to avoid hearing his private message. Naturally they oblige. |
| 556 | * PunBasedTitle: Several episode titles contain puns. For example, "Ice Spy" ("I spy"; the episode features Mr. Freeze) and "The Purr-fect Crime" ("the perfect crime"; the episode features Catwoman). |
| 557 | * PunchClockVillain |
| 558 | ** Zelda the Great only steals (and quite reluctantly) to pay for the amazing devices she uses in her act. She ultimately performs a sincere HeelFaceTurn. |
| 559 | ** Chandell only commits crimes in order to pay off his blackmailing brother and seems deeply distressed at having to do so. |
| 560 | * PutTheirHeadsTogether |
| 561 | ** "The Penguin's A Jinx": During a fight, Batman takes out the Penguin and one of his henchmen by knocking their heads together. |
| 562 | ** "The Joker Is Wild": While fighting the Joker's henchmen, Batman knocks two of their heads together to subdue them. |
| 563 | * QuicksandSucks: Subverted. At the end of the episode "Batman's Anniversary," Batman and Robin are caught in a DeathTrap consisting of a 15-foot-deep pool of quicksand. At the beginning of the next episode "A Ridding Controversy," Batman realizes that they won't sink deeply enough into it to drown. The Dynamic Duo escapes by using the experimental "heel and toe Bat Rockets" in their boots. |
| 564 | * RandomEventsPlot: Common in many episodes, since the emphasis is always more on spectacle than story. Gets especially bad around season three, where many of the writers simply stopped caring. |
| 565 | * RealMenWearPink |
| 566 | ** Louie the Lilac (well, technically purple). |
| 567 | ** The Joker, of course. (This version also wears obvious lipstick!) |
| 568 | * RememberTheNewGuy: Almost every villain that appears on the show, since characters like Batman and Gordon frequently mention having dealt with the episode's villain before, even when it's said villain's debut. Notable exceptions include the Minstrel and Ma Parker. |
| 569 | * ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated |
| 570 | ** Often, the villains make the mistake of assuming the Dynamic Duo have perished in a death trap and are stunned when they show up alive. |
| 571 | ** The episode "The Bookworm Turns" begins with what appears to be Commissioner Gordon being shot on a bridge and falling to his death. As Batman and Robin show up at police headquarters to head up the manhunt for his killer, Gordon walks in, having been slowed by a fake policeman and is unaware of his "death." |
| 572 | ** In "The Contaminated Cowl," the Mad Hatter puts the duo in a chamber to bombard with X-rays. They escape and put a pair of skeletons in spare costumes into the machine to fool the Hatter. It gets out of hand with word of the Dynamic Duo's deaths sweeping the world as the planet goes into mourning. They let it go for a bit before Batman calls Gordon and openly quotes the trope. |
| 573 | * RetCanon |
| 574 | ** The Riddler |
| 575 | *** This series actually ''invented'' Riddler's "less silly" bowler-hat-and-suit look.[[note]]Specifically, it was designed by Frank Gorshin, the actor who played the Riddler. He ''seriously'' hated the tights he was originally forced to wear.[[/note]] In fact, it's only because of Frank Gorshin's Emmy-nominated performance on this show that you've ever heard of the Riddler, who appeared a grand total of ''twice'' in the comics (both in 1948) prior to 1965. |
| 576 | *** The Riddler's ''other'' iconic accessory, his question-mark cane, was also invented on this show - in Creator/JohnAstin's fill-in appearance, to boot![[note]]That said, the cane wasn't really ''codified'' as a must for the character until the one-two punch of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' and ''Film/BatmanForever''.[[/note]] |
| 577 | ** The show brought Mr. Freeze, a formerly obscure villain originally named Mr. Zero, back into the comics and gave him a new name. In much the same way, ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' brought Mr. Freeze back into the modern comics decades later after a long absence, and introduced the tragic characterization that's defined him ever since. Viewers of Arnold Schwarzenegger's performance in ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' might be amused to hear English actor George Sanders adopting a very similar accent when he introduced the character to TV decades earlier. |
| 578 | * RevengeIsSweet: Alfred gets a chance to be a BattleButler by dueling the Joker with fireplace pokers, with the Clown Prince of Crime trash talking him ("You Anglo fink, I'll smash you to smidgens!") during the fight. When Alfred proves victorious and the Joker ends up trapped on an "Emergency Batpole Elevator," the butler takes special delight in being a {{Troll}} by sending the elevator up and down repeatedly: |
| 579 | -->'''Alfred''': I really shouldn't take pleasure in another creature's misfortunes...but, occasionally, one may be forgiven for a slight ''twinge'' of satisfaction! |
| 580 | * ReverseCerebusSyndrome: While comedic elements were there from the start, early episodes of ''Batman'' come off at least a little more serious. |
| 581 | ** Characters could and did die in the early days. In the first episode alone, Bruce makes ''two'' references to his parents being murdered, the Riddler's henchwoman Molly is vaporized after falling into a nuclear reactor, and the Riddler himself [[NeverFoundTheBody appears]] to have been blown up at the two-parter's climax [[JokerImmunity (though of course he returned as good as new about a month later)]]. A few weeks later, in "A Death Worse Than Fate," two gangsters with tommy guns, having prepared an ambush for Batman and Robin, are tricked into shooting ''each other''. [[BloodlessCarnage We don't see any blood]], but the Egyptian mummy casings in which they've been hiding both keel over, assuring us that they're good and dead. In "Instant Freeze," Mr. Freeze apparently kills a servant of Princess Sandra, who tries to stop him from stealing the Princess's precious diamond. However, in the next episode, they reveal that the unfortunate guy managed to survive somehow. |
| 582 | ** The villains' outfits were not always so outlandish at the beginning. In the very first episode, the Riddler is first shown wearing a suit instead of his acrobat tights and mask; he also doesn't jump around manically and giggles only rarely. In Joker's first appearance, he's shown playing baseball in a prison yard while wearing a standard blue prison uniform, while subsequent portrayals of the jailed Joker and all other incarcerated supervillains [[LimitedWardrobe show them in their usual attire]]. (One memorable exception comes in the third season, where the Joker is dressed in a relatively conservative lavender suit while being released from prison.) |
| 583 | ** Scenes of pure drama would pop up here and there. The [[HeelFaceTurn Heel Face Turns]] of female criminals were handled completely seriously, with one reformed moll (in "Holy Rat Race") vowing that once she's out of prison [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes she's going to join her brother on his ranch in New Zealand]]. Even a supervillain, Zelda the Great, is shown at the end of the episode to be reformed. Bruce Wayne promises her a job as a magician in a children's hospital after she serves her sentence. The very first Joker two-parter has a surprisingly downbeat scene in which a TV news anchor suffers a minor HeroicBSOD as a result of the Joker's crime spree and, [[BreakingTheFourthWall directly addressing the (in-universe) audience]], asks them in a grave voice to pray that JusticeWillPrevail...until the silliness returns when the Joker and his gang [[DeadlineNews storm the TV studio, gas the camera crew, and (non-lethally) shock the anchor with a joybuzzer]]. ("Have a laugh on me, Freddie!") Robin cries when it looks as if Alfred is about to be beheaded by the Archer, and ''everyone in the world'' cries when it appears as if the Mad Hatter has succeeded in killing the Dynamic Duo. |
| 584 | * ReversePolarity: Happens a ''lot'', but for one example, Batman does it in the first season episode "Better Luck Next Time." |
| 585 | * RhymingTitle: If the series feature a two-parter, the consecutive episodes will almost always have titles that form a rhyming couplet, such as "The Joker Is Wild"/"Batman is Riled." |
| 586 | * RoboticReveal: "The Joker's Last Laugh": Batman twists the nose of a bank teller and the top of the teller's head blows off, revealing springs and other mechanical parts. The teller is actually one of the Joker's android robots. |
| 587 | * RoguesGalleryTransplant: The Clock King was originally an enemy of Green Arrow in the comics, and the villains Puzzler and Archer started out as minor Superman villains. |
| 588 | * RousseauWasRight: In the ElectionDayEpisode, Batman has to run against the Penguin for Mayor of Gotham City. In that campaign, the Penguin uses every dirty trick and theatrical tactic he can to popularize himself and lure the electorate to his side, while Batman runs a quiet, boring, unpopular campaign. On election day, with the poll numbers showing a dismal result for Batman, the Caped Crusader refuses to give up hope with a firm belief that the votes will vindicate him. All his allies treat this as naïve StupidGood, especially when the early results have the Penguin on his way to victory. However, the full voter turnout turns out to be firmly in Batman's favor, winning by a commanding margin. |
| 589 | * RuleOfFunny: This series practically runs on it. |
| 590 | [[/folder]] |
| 591 | [[folder:S-Z]] |
| 592 | * SchmuckBait: Death bee beehive trip wire. |
| 593 | * SchrodingersCanon: Which of the continuations, if any, are actually canonical with the TV show? The [[ComicBook/Batman66 comics]], the [[WesternAnimation/BatmanReturnOfTheCapedCrusaders the two]] [[WesternAnimation/BatmanVsTwoFace animated films]], the ''Series/LegendsOfTheSuperheroes'' specials, and ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019'' all conflict with each other in some way or another. |
| 594 | * SecretIdentity |
| 595 | ** Batman and Robin's secret identities are a frequent plot point. Batman's identity is actually uncovered by King Tut on two occasions, but his EasyAmnesia saves the Dynamic Duo. |
| 596 | ** Unlike many examples of the trope, Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson seldom feign weakness. Wayne in particular is quite capable of handling himself in a scrap, although in one case where Bruce goes undercover as an ally of the Joker, he pretends to join ineptly in a fight against Robin and "clumsily" do more damage to the Joker's goons instead. In a later Joker caper, Bruce fights the mooks but pulls his punches just enough that they won't suspect him of being a fighter on Batman's level. |
| 597 | ** Oddly enough, doubly played straight with Batgirl. Batman himself has no idea who Batgirl is and vice versa despite Alfred's knowledge of both parties' secret. Batgirl doesn't suspect Alfred knows who Batman is (and she can't think of two people more different than "Batman" and "Bruce Wayne") and Batman figures out that Alfred is keeping secrets from him about Batgirl but doesn't force Alfred to betray her trust. |
| 598 | ** Radio/TheGreenHornet and [[Creator/BruceLee his sidekick]]. |
| 599 | * SecretKeeper: Alfred. Not just for Batman, but also Batgirl. |
| 600 | %%* SheFu: Demonstrated by Batgirl. |
| 601 | * ShortTeensTallAdults: Teen sidekick Robin (played by 5'7" Burt Ward) is towered over by most adult characters, including Batman (played by 6'2" Adam West), The Joker (6'3" Cesar Romero) and even Catwoman (5'11" Julie Newmar). |
| 602 | * ShoutOut |
| 603 | ** In "The Cat and the Fiddle," Catwoman's thugs are crawling around the outside of the Gotham State Building. Commissioner Gordon says ,"Are they birds?" and Chief O'Hara says, "Are they planes?", a reference to the signature line from ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'', "Look! Up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It's Superman!" |
| 604 | ** "An Egg Grows in Gotham" |
| 605 | *** Chief Screaming Chicken is the sole remaining representative of the Mohican tribe, making him "The Last of the Mohicans" (a reference to the James Fenimore Cooper novel ''Literature/TheLastOfTheMohicans''). |
| 606 | *** At one point, Chief Screaming Chicken says the phrase "Kemo sabe." When Egghead's goon asks him what it means, he says he doesn't know, he just heard it on the radio. This refers to the ''Franchise/TheLoneRanger'' radio show, in which Tonto regularly uses that phrase. |
| 607 | *** An unnamed police detective played by Ben Alexander tells a woman to "Give me just the facts," a reference to Sergeant Joe Friday's "Just the facts, ma'am," line from ''Franchise/{{Dragnet}}'' and to Alexander's character on the show, Frank Smith. |
| 608 | ** "Fine Feathered Finks": when the Penguin sees a camera observing him in a prison cell, he says, "Goodnight, Big Brother," and pokes it out with his umbrella. This is a reference to George Orwell's novel ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'', which (among other things) had devices in people's homes that were used to spy on them. The symbol of the government was Big Brother, the Party leader in charge of the country. |
| 609 | * SidewaysSmile: The semi-animated opening credits feature one of the characters doing this. |
| 610 | * SlouchOfVillainy: Catwoman is always lounging around instead of sitting up straight, no matter the situation. |
| 611 | * SoLastSeason: Happens to Mister Freeze's signature FreezeRay. In Freeze's first appearance, Batman and Robin getting hit with the thing is considered a big enough deal to form that storyline's CliffHanger, and they don't outsmart their way out of that one; they're only saved thanks to the Gotham City police thawing them out. By Freeze's final appearance in "Ice Spy," Batman and Robin know to be prepared with specially-treated suits. The Freeze Ray gets all of five seconds of screen time before Freeze realizes it's useless and tosses it aside. |
| 612 | * SoOnceAgainTheDayIsSaved: "Tune in tomorrow! Same Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel!" |
| 613 | * SpecialGuest: At least one "SpecialGuest Villain[ess]" in every episode. If there are two, the second is billed as "Extra Special." The one exception is the Green Hornet crossover, where the credit reads "Visiting Hero" for Van Williams and "Assistant Visiting Hero" for Bruce Lee, while the actual villain of the piece is relegated to the end credits. |
| 614 | * SpottingTheThread: Batman figures out that Commissioner Gordon has been replaced by False Face when he wipes his face with the wrong hand. |
| 615 | * ASpyAtTheSpa: The finale has special guest villainess Zsa Zsa Gabor reading billionaire spa-goers' minds with her special "Eggplant Jelly Vitamin Scalp Massage." |
| 616 | * StaticStunGun: In "That Darn Catwoman," Catwoman's goons use electric cattle prods to stun Batman into unconsciousness. |
| 617 | * StatuesqueStunner: Catwoman, played by 5'11" (plus heels) Julie Newmar. |
| 618 | * StealthHiBye: Unusually, not Batman but Batgirl is a master of this trope. |
| 619 | * StepfordSmiler: Bruce Wayne and Commissioner Gordon while under the influence of the Siren. |
| 620 | * StockFootage: The same footage of the Batmobile exiting and reentering the Batcave, and the Batmobile arriving in front of police headquarters, is recycled endlessly. After the film, all uses of the Bat-cycle, Bat-boat, and Bat-helicopter are also recycled from said film when used. |
| 621 | * StockSoundEffects: In "Fine Feathered Finks"/"The Penguin's a Jinx," the Penguin has a model [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_penguin African penguin]] that ''quacks like a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mallard mallard]]''. |
| 622 | * StrictlyFormula |
| 623 | ** Pretty much every two-part episode has the same basic formula: in part one, Batman and Robin try to thwart the latest scheme of a supervillain but end up in some kind of death trap. In part two, they escape the death trap, pummel the villain's minions, stop their plans, and turn him/her in to the authorities. |
| 624 | ** Averted in "Zelda the Great" where it's [[spoiler: Aunt Harriet]] who is in mortal danger for once. |
| 625 | * SuperHero |
| 626 | ** Batman, Robin, and Batgirl, of course, but also SpecialGuest Heroes Series/TheGreenHornet and Kato. |
| 627 | ** This trope is deconstructed in the pilot episode when the Riddler makes a FrivolousLawsuit for a million dollars after he cleverly tricks the Dynamic Duo into falsely arresting him. Batman will have to reveal his SecretIdentity in court, ruining his SuperHero career. The plan would have worked, too! [[spoiler: Riddler goes missing and is presumed dead before the court date!]] |
| 628 | * SurroundedByIdiots: Catwoman says this in "The Cat's Meow": "Why can't I get good help?" Mind you, this is while she has Batman and Robin in a DeathTrap. |
| 629 | %%* TakeMyHand: Multiple examples. [Ed. Name one] |
| 630 | * ThatOneCase: Notably [[AvertedTrope Averted]]; the murder of Bruce's parents is only mentioned once in the entire series and not dwelt on all that long. It seems to this Batman, that night was more of an incitement than a continuing drive like it usually is. |
| 631 | * TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat: In "The Great Escape," when Commissioner Gordon calls the hotline with Bruce Wayne right next to him, Alfred hooks it up to an answering machine that then carries on a conversation with Gordon. |
| 632 | * TapOnTheHead: Straightforwardly used often on mooks, villains, and heroes alike. Subverted for Tut when getting hit on the head actually carries serious results beyond temporary unconsciousness. Played with for Chandell when he pretends to have been knocked out with a broken bottle. |
| 633 | * TechnicolorScience: Common, particularly in the form of colorful KnockoutGas. |
| 634 | * TemptingFate |
| 635 | ** What one of the train security guards says in "The Great Train Robbery." |
| 636 | ** One of Lord Ffogg's goons refers to Batman as a [[UsefulNotes/{{Cricket}} slow bowler]]. No, he'll figure out your boss and spread-eagle the blighter's stumps. |
| 637 | * ThemeTune: Nanananananananana! Doubles as Batman's leitmotif as well. |
| 638 | * ThereWasADoor: In a variant of Batman's usual StealthHiBye, Batman and Robin practically always enter buildings through the window, even if this is unnecessary. |
| 639 | * ThinkOfTheChildren: Invoked by name by Aunt Harriet in protest to the Marsha/Batman love scene in Penguin's film. |
| 640 | * ThirdWheel: As far as Catwoman is concerned, Robin is this to her and Batman, and she wants him ''gone''. It's something of a dark RunningGag that whenever it seems like Catwoman is just about successfully persuade Batman to give in to his feelings for her, he inquires, "What about Robin?" to which her answer is always to kill him, which in turn invariably snaps Batman back to reality. |
| 641 | * ThoseTwoGuys: Gordon and O'Hara. |
| 642 | * ThrowABarrelAtIt |
| 643 | ** In "Ice Spy," one of Mr. Freeze's henchmen throws a barrel at Batman during a fight in Freeze's lair. |
| 644 | ** In "The Foggiest Notion," Batman throws a barrel at one of Lord Ffogg's henchmen. |
| 645 | ** "A Riddling Controversy": Batman throws a barrel at one of the Riddler's minions during the final fight scene. |
| 646 | ** "The Spell of Tut": while the Dynamic Duo are fighting King Tut's goons, a goon throws a barrel at Batman but hits King Tut instead. |
| 647 | ** "Pop Goes The Joker": during the fight with the Joker and his henchmen, Bruce Wayne (Batman's secret identity) throws a small barrel at a henchman. |
| 648 | ** "The Thirteenth Hat": during the battle at the end of the episode, the Mad Hatter throws a barrel at Batman and knocks him into a wall. |
| 649 | ** "Batman Sets the Pace": at the beginning of a battle between the Dynamic Duo and the Joker's gang, the Joker throws a barrel at Batman, and Batman throws it back at two of the Joker's minions. |
| 650 | %%** "Penguin's Disastrous End" |
| 651 | * TitleThemeTune: Indeed, it's the ''only'' lyric (if you don't count "Na"). Contrary to one rumor (believed and spread by Creator/AdamWest himself, among others), the word "Batman" was indeed sung by vocalists, not created by horns. |
| 652 | * TokenGoodCop: As actual deputized members of the police force rather than their usual clear cut vigilante selves, Batman and Robin stand out as [[PoliceAreUseless the sole hope of Gotham City against any criminal threat]]. While Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara ''occasionally'' manage to do something relatively useful and proactive, generally, they are paralyzed without Batman and Robin to help them, and most of their subordinates make them look like the Caped Crusaders. Perhaps the only three Gotham street-level cops shown actually accomplishing something besides halting the occasional VillainExitStageLeft are Policewoman Mooney (who infiltrates Catwoman's gang in one episode, although she eventually ends up as a DamselInDistress) and a pair of courtroom bailiffs who hold a dozen henchmen at gunpoint and keep them from joining the melee in "The Joke's on Catwoman." |
| 653 | * TookALevelInBadass: Hanging around Batman and Robin, you probably become Badass by osmosis. |
| 654 | ** Aunt Harriet of all people during the two-part Chandell episode where she pulls a ''gun'' on his evil twin brother Harry! Talk about guts! |
| 655 | ** Alfred, at the end of "Flop Goes the Joker!" Not only does he single-handedly beat the Joker at Wayne Manor [[BattleButler while demonstrating his fencing skills]], he also gives the Joker his most humiliating defeat (see HumiliationConga, above.) |
| 656 | ** Alfred had already shown off his badassery several episodes earlier, when he (disguised as his own security-guard cousin... [[ItMakesSenseInContext don't ask]]) holds the Joker and his gang at gunpoint and [[HoistByHisOwnPetard forces them to eat their own time-reversing pills]]. |
| 657 | * TortureTechnician: Parodied (?) when Mr. Freeze lowers Miss Iceland body’s temperature, convinced [[InsaneTrollLogic that she will fall in love with him when she hits fifty degrees below zero]]. When that fails, he subjects her to HarmlessFreezing. |
| 658 | * TotallyRadical: In the third and final season, they were hitting viewers over the head with constant "hip" reminders that it was UsefulNotes/TheSixties, and in seemingly every scene too. The most triumphant example is probably the series' penultimate episode, "The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra", where half the villain's gimmick consists of speaking in painful amounts of Hippie slang. |
| 659 | * ToTheBatpole: The Duo usually enters the Batcave through hidden firepoles in Bruce Wayne's study. Furthermore, the poles were in the second season onward to have an elevator function to allow the Duo to ascend the poles back to the study so they do not have to explain how they are spotted outside it without being seen leaving through the room's only door. |
| 660 | * TrackingDevice |
| 661 | ** "The Joker's Flying Saucer". When Alfred is forced to help the Joker assemble the flying saucer, he puts several Bat tracking signals inside the saucer so Batman can learn its location after it lands. |
| 662 | ** "Batman Stands Pat". The Mad Hatter is kidnapping members of the jury that convicted him and stealing their hats. Batman has Alfred plant a Bat Homing Transmitter in the hat of the last juror so he can trace the Mad Hatter's location when he steals the hat. |
| 663 | ** "The Penguin Declines". The female villain Venus deserts the Joker and falls in love with Batman. However, the Joker anticipated that she would do so and planted a tracking signal in her shoe. He later uses the signal to find Venus's location and send the Penguin (?!) to seduce her. |
| 664 | * TrainJob: In keeping with his western motif, Shame pulls one. |
| 665 | * TranquillizerDart: "The Ring of Wax." The Riddler takes down Batman and Robin with anesthetic darts fired from a blowgun. |
| 666 | * TrrrillingRrrs |
| 667 | ** King Tut. |
| 668 | ** The Joker, particularly when he enunciates "Batman and Robin" (probably due to the fact that the actor playing him was Hispanic). |
| 669 | ** Catwoman purrs hers, ''especially'' when Eartha Kitt plays herrrrr. |
| 670 | ** Lord Ffogg also has a propensity for this. |
| 671 | * TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: "Pop Goes the Joker"/"Flop Goes the Joker" is all about this. Joker raids an art gallery and randomly sprays paint all over the artwork, only for the artist to proclaim the results much better than the originals. This goes on throughout the story (with Joker, naturally, taking advantage of people who are convinced he's a genius). At the end of the second episode, a gallery patron looks at one of the Joker's works and says, "I don't understand it at all. It must be very profound." |
| 672 | * UnderCrank: Used frequently, particularly in Batmobile scenes. |
| 673 | * UnresolvedSexualTension |
| 674 | ** Between Batman and Julie Newmar's Catwoman, much to her dismay. |
| 675 | ** To a lesser degree, between Batman and Zelda. |
| 676 | * UnusuallyUninterestingSight: The citizens of Gotham City were pretty blasé. The Batmobile could screech to a halt in front of City Hall and the Caped Crusaders dash up the steps in their colorful costumes without so much as a second glance from passersby. Even looking out a window and finding Batman and Robin walking up the side of your building was treated as routine. Then again, given how often they climb buildings... |
| 677 | * VerbalTic: Mister Freeze as played by Otto Preminger ''really'' uses the word 'wild' a lot. A ''lot''. |
| 678 | * TheVamp: Many of the female villains, but especially ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}. |
| 679 | * VileVillainSaccharineShow |
| 680 | ** Unlike the creepy but sympathetic portrayal of the character in other continuities, David Wayne's Mad Hatter is a humorlessly vicious psychopath who tries to flay Batman and Robin alive to make hats out of their bodies and then attempts to burn the flesh off of their bones with concentrated radiation. He's easily the series' nastiest villain. |
| 681 | ** In one of his episodes, the Joker styles himself as a MadArtist and not only leaves Robin to be carved up by sculpting knives, but expects his blood to splatter everywhere and "paint" the gallery. When he returns and sees the "blood", he's overjoyed - but then Robin appears, free from harm, and says that it's just red paint meant to fool him. |
| 682 | ** Two villains - the Riddler and "Commissioner" Nora Clavicle - attempted ''mass murder'' as part of their criminal schemes, albeit because of {{Greed}} than hate or misanthropy. Especially heinous in Clavicle's case because she tried to blow up ''all'' of Gotham City, which in-universe was said to be home to more people than New York City. And the Riddler's plot involved making buildings throughout the city semi-permanently disappear with an antimatter ray gun, thus bordering on [[ApocalypseHow a Class Z Apocalypse]]! |
| 683 | * VillainHasAPoint: During the mayoral election debate, Penguin points out that Batman wears a mask, concealing his true identity and past from the voters. This is a perfectly valid point (at least until Penguin proceeds to segue into InsaneTrollLogic, arguing that since Batman is frequently in close contact with criminals he's probably a criminal himself). |
| 684 | * VillainTeamUp: The third season was built heavily on this. Two three-part episodes in the second season each had the Penguin team up with another villain (ComicBook/TheJoker in the first one and Marsha, Queen of Diamonds in the second). ''Film/BatmanTheMovie'' had the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler, and Catwoman all work together. |
| 685 | * VillainessesWantHeroes: ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} got's it bad for Batman, to the point where she'd give up being a criminal if he would marry her. Sadly, her desire to murder Robin (out of jealousy, perhaps?) put the cork in that proposal. |
| 686 | * VisualPun: The crooks' lairs are always shot in [[DutchAngle crooked angles]]. |
| 687 | * TheWallsAreClosingIn: In Catwoman's first appearance, she subjects Batman & Robin to the SpikesOfDoom version. But the walls stop just before they'd impale Batman, and anyway the spikes are made of rubber. She was just [[CatsAreMean toying with him]] (It wasn't the {{Cliffhanger}} of the episode). This was an homage to an [[http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6601/38423963.37/0_a6f9b_3b88d32_XL.jpg actual cliffhanger]] from the [[Film/TheBatmanSerial 1943 Batman serial]]. |
| 688 | * WeirdnessMagnet: Gotham City sure has a lot of colorful characters. |
| 689 | * WellDoneSonGuy: Actually a Well Done Daughter Gal - Legs in "The Greatest Mother of them All"/"Ma Parker" |
| 690 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Despite False Face promising Batman that "it's not over" at the end of "Holy Rat Race", he is never seen again. [[note]]Creator William Dozier disliked the False Face two-parter, and decided not to bring back the character for further appearances.[[/note]] |
| 691 | * WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve |
| 692 | ** "The Joker's Flying Saucer." When the Joker's henchman places a time bomb inside the Batmobile, he sets it to go off at midnight. |
| 693 | ** "The Bookworm Turns/While Gotham City Burns." The Bookworm ties Robin to the clapper in the bell of the Big Benjamin clock. When the clock strikes midnight, the clapper will slam Robin against the bell and kill him. |
| 694 | ** "An Egg Grows in Gotham". According to the Gotham City Charter, nine raccoon pelts must be delivered to Chief Screaming Chicken on a certain day. If he does not receive the pelts by midnight on that day, the ownership of the city reverts to him. |
| 695 | ** "Batman Displays His Knowledge". Catwoman proposes to Batman that they have a meeting at midnight for her to turn herself in. Of course, it turns out to be a trick. |
| 696 | * WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys: Egghead used this as a clue when he correctly guessed that Bruce Wayne was Batman; he abandons the idea when his attempt to confirm it fails. |
| 697 | * WhereTheHellIsSpringfield |
| 698 | ** For the most part, Gotham City seems to be New York under an assumed name. It seems to be in Gotham State and is adjacent to New Guernsey. It has a Queen of Freedom statue which is an {{Expy}} for the Statue of Liberty. Gotham's Mayor Linseed is an expy for New York City's Mayor John V. Lindsay (1966-73), and the state's chief executive Governor Stonefellow is a pun on New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller (1959-73). [[EstablishingShot Establishing shots]] of the city are often StockFootage of recognizable New York locations like Central Park or the Flatiron Building. But there's also evidence pointing to alternate locales, and at least one reference to New York as another, separate, city from Gotham. |
| 699 | ** Adding another level of confusing, both the series and TheMovie have numerous shots that are recognizably around Greater Los Angeles... |
| 700 | * WickedWitch: Marsha's sidekick, Aunt Hilda (Estelle Winwood). |
| 701 | * WilliamTelling: Alfred attempts to show off his archery skills and places an apple on Dick Grayson's head. Bruce stops him saying it's not worth taking the risk so Dick places the apple on a stationary target. Alfred shoots and misses. Had they gone through with it the arrow would have hit Dick right between the eyes. |
| 702 | * WomanOfWealthAndTaste: Catwoman's various lairs are usually opulently decorated. |
| 703 | * WorldOfHam: It would be easier just to name the characters who don't constantly ham it up to eleven. |
| 704 | * WouldntHitAGirl: Strongly enforced at all times (hence the lack of a Batfight in "Zelda The Great" and "Nora Clavicle And The Ladies' Crime Club"). In addition, Batgirl could neither throw nor receive punches ([[KickChick But nobody said anything about kicks]]). There was one exception to this: Batgirl took several punches in one fight... against Dr. Cassandra's ''invisible'' henchmen. |
| 705 | * WrittenSoundEffect: Originally optically superimposed over the action in the first season and TheMovie; in later seasons, to save money, this was replaced by cutaway title cards. Not consistently used; there are occasional episodes where fight scenes come and go without them. |
| 706 | * WrongBathroomIncident: In "Catwoman's Dressed To Kill", Batman and Robin exhibit one of their most LawfulStupid moments when Catwoman flees into one. When Catwoman takes Batgirl hostage, they finally go in... with arms in front of their eyes. Cue the exasperated girls inside stating they covered themselves up already. |
| 707 | * XanatosSpeedChess: Batman's specialty. |
| 708 | * {{Yandere}}: Catwoman loves Batman, but she's not above attempted murder when he's interfering with her schemes. Best exemplified by one exchange from "Scat! Darn Catwoman": |
| 709 | -->'''Batman:''' A wife -- no matter how beauteous, or affectionate -- would severely impair my crimefighting!\ |
| 710 | '''Catwoman:''' But I could help you in your work! As a former criminal, I'd be invaluable. I can reform, honestly I can!\ |
| 711 | '''Batman:''' What about Robin?\ |
| 712 | '''Catwoman:''' ''(Disgusted)'' ROBIN?! ''(Beat; gleefully)'' Oh, I've got it -- we'll kill him!\ |
| 713 | '''Batman:''' ...I see you're not really ready to assume a life in society. |
| 714 | * YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: All over the place in the Archer two-parter; even the SFX cards get in on the act! |
| 715 | * YouJustRuinedTheShot: Batman and Robin foil a bank robbery... but it turns out to be part of a completely legal and authorized location shoot for the Penguin's movie. The Penguin shot the scene specifically to invoke this trope and entrap Batman. Batman told Robin he intentionally fell into the trap to find out what the Penguin was up to. |
| 716 | * YouWouldntHitAGuyWithGlasses |
| 717 | ** Several examples, most prominently the Bookworm episode, where Batman and Robin pause before the fight to allow all of Bookworm's henchmen to remove their spectacles. |
| 718 | ** In Shame's first appearance, one of Shame's accomplices says to Batman, "You wouldn't hit a man with glasses, would you?" Batman points out that the man isn't wearing glasses and proceeds to punch him. |
| 719 | [[/folder]] |
| 720 | ---- |
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