BATMAN s1e3 and e4: FINE FEATHERED FINKS and THE PENGUIN'S A JINX

 

BATMAN season 1: Fine Feathered Finks

 

“Brace yourself for a shock. It’s the Penguin!”

 

What I like about this show is that it doesn’t try to be the start and end of BATMAN or its universe. It acts as if the comic stories were valid and told. Here is the second episode and Commissioner Gordon already knows the Penguin and so does Batman. Chief O’Hara mentioned he thought the Penguin went up the river. Gordon found out the Penguin was released three days ago.

 

Of note: the extra punch of the theme song is gone from this third episode. Gordon’s secretary is Bonnie and she is seen. Warden Crichton shows up as played by GENERAL HOSPITAL’s Edward Quartermaine himself---David Lewis.

 

Other things of note include the fact that an African American couple is seen on the street with other bypassers when the giant umbrella lands. There’s also a light skinned man who may be Latino or African American as well. When the Batmobile first arrives outside Penguin’s KG Bird’s umbrella factory, for some reason, BATMAN looks like BATMAN but Robin is clearly an older stand in who jumps out.

 

Penguin does not recognize Bruce Wayne when Bruce tries to plant a spider bug in the factory and is capture and gassed. The cliffhanger has the wonderful Walter Burke as henchman Sparrow and henchman put an unconscious Bruce on a conveyor belt toward a flaming furnace. The narration says, “The flaming end of the caped crusader?”

 

Adam West, bless him, may not cut a firm, muscular BATMAN but he more than makes up for it as Bruce Wayne, always more believable as Bruce, though I’m not sure his BATMAN is supposed to be believable as funny and funny he sure is, at times. Besides, Burt Ward as Robin more than makes up for the muscled end of things.

 

The cliffhanger shows that the series hadn’t yet become THAT formulaic as usually Batman and Robin, and not Bruce Wayne, would end up, together, in some trap and the villain would be gloating over them. Here’s it’s just Bruce, out of the uniform.

 

Burgess Meredith is so good as the Penguin. He’s really ruined it for anyone else to do though GOTHAM came close and tried and Danny Devito was a close second. Meredith made up the quack to cover his cough as he had already quit smoking for some 20 to 25 years. He also made up the Penguin walk. He also ad libs a lot of the insults against Batman. The umbrella handle on the giant one is too thin but honestly, the stunts and effects work well here. And oddly…there’s NO fight scene in this episode.

 

What comic book fans might not know is that this story was based on a comic from Feb 1965 with some changes made. This, despite the sometimes corny or campy delivery of the actors saying things about respecting the law, something the writers seemed to be making fun of. Robin, Gordon and Batman are neatly squarely straight laced.

 

Alfred also has the safety lock on as he’s cleaning the atomic pile device where Molly was killed last episode.  

 

The episode is so captivating, mostly by the terrific Batmobile, Meredith and Nelson Riddle’s top notice music, one doesn’t notice that there were no fights! In addition, Penguin’s plot is unique and wonderful: to make Batman seem a criminal while he himself is planning nothing! No crime! Wonderful and zany.

  

BATMAN season one  ep 4

Penquin’s A Jink

Part two goes as predicted although Batman’s ruse of knowing what Penguin was doing in the end was a surprise. It’s interesting that Penguin was letting Batman invent the crime for him and kidnapping a rich movie star was an interesting one. The best part of this episode is having Aunt Harriet see a gassed out Alfred on the couch/chair with the gasses out Hollywood starlet with their heads on each other. Also the girl, in the end, seems to have fallen for Batman and Dick shakes his head like he understands! I never noticed but Robin says a lot less puns than the Robin in the comics, in fact, none at all and you’d think in this show he’d say more. The backdrop of Gotham is a bold one, one that inspires imagination. While I see the camp of this series and how it could upset some, I still don’t understand current hatred of it. I think it’s colorful, funny, somewhat exciting (though again, I can spot Robin’s stand in a mile away----I don’t understand if they hired a ju jitsu expert or karate kid---why didn’t they let him do the fight scenes at least?), and definitely different.

 

I think this might be one of the first climbing scenes as the two climb up the side of the penthouse building. They also use the bat rocket to launch the bat rope to the top. Penguin has his own means of zip lining into the apartment. We also see a service elevator sign in the BatCave.

 

By no means a forgettable episode but not one that’s great either but entertaining all the same.