The Best Episodes of Batman Season 1

Catwoman initiates a series of thefts that cause Commissioner Gordon to summon Batman and Robin. But the importance of the crimes go beyond the taking of the objects involved. The Dynamic Duo eventually find Catwoman's lair. But Robin is whisked away while Batman is given a choice between two doors. If he picks the right door, he'll find Catwoman. If he picks the wrong one, he'll face certain doom. The hero makes the wrong selection and is about to be attacked by a tiger.

Director: James Sheldon

Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross

Batman evades the attacking tiger thanks to his utility belt. First, he scales the wall. Then, he uses a sonic device "to split the tiger's skull," as narrator William Dozier informs us. The hero still has to free Robin, who is facing a separate death trap. Once that task is completed, the Dynamic Duo are back on Catwoman's trail. It turns out the feline villain is after the lost treasure of Captain Manx, which is in a remote spot outside of Gotham City.

Director: James Sheldon

Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross

Commissioner Gordon appears to have been assassinated during the opening of a new bridge. A copy of Hemingway's 'For Whom The Bell Tolls' nearly blows up the Batmobile. Both incidents are clues to the Bookworm's latest scheme. Batman and Robin interrogate The Bookworm's henchwoman Miss Limpet but deduce she is leading them into a trap. And while Batman intends to walk right into it, it is Robin who falls first.

Director: Larry Peerce

Writer: Rik Vollaerts

While the Riddler maneuvers Batman into being sued, the Dynamic Duo investigate the supervillain's concurrent scheme.

Director: Robert Butler

Writer: Lorenzo Semple Jr.

At Woodrow Roosevelt High School, a vending machine gives out money. Dick Grayson is there to witness it. Batman learns the vending machines are operated by a company bought by the Joker after being released from prison. The Joker and his gang are aided by Susie, a cheerleader at the school. In the course of their investigation, Batman and Robin are captured and placed in electric chairs. If a "one armed bandit" comes up the wrong way, they'll be electrocuted.

Director: Murray Golden

Writer: Lorenzo Semple Jr.

False Face traps Batman and Robin, and binding them to a subway track just minutes before a train is scheduled to come by.

Director: William A. Graham

Writer: Stephen Kandel

After his recent release from jail, The Penguin has started his own protective agency and is thwarting small time hoodlums everywhere he goes. Batman & Robin decide to send in an undercover Alfred to spy on the newly reformed Penguin and his recently acquainted high society friends. However, the Penguin has anticipated Batman and Robin's every move and manages to give them a makeover into wanted men instead of him.

Director: Leslie H. Martinson

Writer: Lorenzo Semple Jr.

Batman saves Robin from the Wayne Memorial Clock Tower at the last possible Big Benjamin second. While they are busy in the Batcave, The Bookworm steals a priceless cookbook from stately Wayne Manor. He then lures the Dynamic Duo into an oversized cookbook on display in the middle of Gotham city and steals the Batmobile. Can Batman and Robin escape before their goose is cooked?

Director: Larry Peerce

Writer: Rik Vollaerts

Charlie Chaplin and the Keystone Kops raid the till at the newly opened Gotham movie theater. The culprits turn out to be 'The Riddler' and his gang in disguise. They lead the Dynamic Duo on a crime spree chase from Mother Gatham's Bakery, past the Gotham Library, and into a Temperance Party. At each of these events, the villains are accompanied by German film maker Van Bloheim who captures everything on celluloid.

Director: Charles R. Rondeau

Writer: Richard Carr

Robin has been captured by 'The Riddler', leaving Batman fearing his own reaction. Therefore he asks Commissioner Gordon to accompany him to the Bat-cave to witness his interrogation of Pauline, The Riddler's moll. All clues eventually lead back to the priceless silent film collection of Mr. Van Jones, to which The Riddler is about to add his own silent masterpiece.

Director: Charles R. Rondeau

Writer: Richard Carr

The Riddler fashions a mold of the face of the unconscious Robin. He contacts Batman with two more riddles. The Riddler tells Batman if he can solve the riddles, he'll know where Robin is.

Director: Robert Butler

Writer: Lorenzo Semple Jr.

The Joker decides to fight fire with fire against Batman with a utility belt of his own.

Director: Don Weis

Writer: Robert Dozier

Batman avoids a public unmasking but is unable to bring in the Joker, thanks to the villain's utility belt. Eventually, Batman and Robin are captured by the Joker's gang. But the Joker doesn't know a showdown with the Dynamic Duo awaits.

Director: Don Weis

Writer: Robert Dozier

Batman manages to escape the Riddler's death trap. He and Robin decide to lay low until they can figure out the Riddler's caper. Meanwhile, the Riddler frees King Boris, who brings a gift to a major monument in Gotham City. It turns out the Riddler has substituted a bomb for King Boris's gift and he is demanding a ransom. The Riddler, though, overplays his hand, enabling Batman and Robin to capture the Riddler and his gang.

Director: Tom Gries

Writer: Fred De Gorter

A power failure prevents Batman and Robin from being electrocuted. Meanwhile, a recording Batman made confirms that cheerleader Susie is one of the Joker's confederates. Robin, in his Dick Grayson identity, attempts to infiltrate the gang. Meanwhile, the Joker's main plot is finally revealed. Members of the high school basketball team receive answers to final exams from the rigged vending machines. The Joker appears, claiming to be a concerned citizen. The team's starters will be suspended as the Joker bets big money on the team's next opponent. Batman, however, has other ideas.

Director: Murray Golden

Writer: Lorenzo Semple Jr.

Alfred contacts Batman by radio from the Batcave. Batman instructs the butler to short circuit a communications device the hero has on his wrist. This enable Batman to get free of his bonds. He and Robin get free just before they would be run over by a subway train. The Dynamic Duo resume their pursuit of False Face, which ends up at an old movie studio.

Director: William A. Graham

Writer: Stephen Kandel

Already wanted for a robbery they didn't commit, Batman and Robin fake their own deaths with a little help from Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara. They even allow the Penguin to take hold of the Batmobile, now renamed 'Birdmobile' in order to keep track on them via a hidden camera.

Director: Leslie H. Martinson

Writer: Lorenzo Semple Jr.

Alfred is kidnapped by the Penguin ans his finny fiends while buying caviar for the Multimillionaires Annual Award Dinner. Although the loyal butler does not know the secret location where the dinner is to be held, Penguin brainwashes the man-servant as part of his diabolical scheme. Batman and Robin track down the Penguin's hideout on a fishing pier owned by 'Knott A. Fish', only to walk into a trap.

Director: Tom Gries

Writer: Sheldon Stark

The Penguin plots to manipulate Batman into inadvertently devising capers for him.

Director: Robert Butler

Writer: Lorenzo Semple Jr.

Bruce Wayne escapes the Penguin's deathtrap and returns to the Batcave. What he doesn't know is that one of the Penguin's clues, an umbrella, has a listening device.

Director: Robert Butler

Writer: Lorenzo Semple Jr.

King Boris, who hails from a European country, comes to Gotham City for a visit. Upon his arrival, there is a disturbance, which includes a clue from the Riddler. Batman and Robin investigate and get on the Riddler's trail. They are trapped by the criminal, who ties them to large wheels that will spin with ever-increasing speed until they are dead.

Director: Tom Gries

Writer: Fred De Gorter

The Riddler's latest scheme involves stealing a wax figure to melt down for its wax that is powerfully corrosive when exposed to direct flame.

Director: James B. Clark

Writer: Bob Rodgers

Taking advantage of the Riddler's mistaken belief that they were killed escaping his deathtrap, the Dynamic Duo must stop the villain from stealing a treasure of Incan jewels that would mean destroying an archaeological treasure as well.

Director: James B. Clark

Writer: Bob Rodgers

The Joker launches a new crime wave with robberies that appear to make no sense, such as stealing hairpins from rich women and a hole from a golf course. But the Joker knows exactly what he's doing. Batman and Robin are in pursuit and eventually invade the villain's headquarters. The heroes are placed in a chamber and are told if they can float for an hour, they'll go free. The Joker then begins to flood the chamber with poison gas. The Joker says the Dynamic Duo may not be able to swim in the gas "but you can drown in it!"

Director: Richard C. Sarafian

Writer: Marian B. Cockrell, Francis M. Cockrell

After an ingenious escape, Batman and Robin again pick up the trail of the Joker. The villain's ultimate crime is designed not only to make him rich but to ruin Batman's reputation.

Director: Richard C. Sarafian

Writer: Marian B. Cockrell, Francis M. Cockrell