The Best Episodes of Batman Season 1
Every episode of Batman Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Batman Season 1!
Wealthy entrepreneur Bruce Wayne and his ward Dick Grayson lead a double life: they are actually crime fighting duo Batman and Robin. A secret Batpole in the Wayne mansion leads to the Batcave, where Police Commissioner Gordon often calls with the latest emergency threatening Gotham City. Racing to the scene of the crime in the Batmobile, Batman and Robin must (with the help of their trusty Bat-utility-belt) thwart the efforts of a variety of master criminals, including The Riddler, The Joker, Catwoman, and The Penguin.
Season 1 Ratings Summary
The best episode of "Batman" season 1 is "Hi Diddle Riddle", rated 7.8/10 from 1102 user votes. It was directed by Robert Butler and written by Lorenzo Semple Jr.. "Hi Diddle Riddle" aired on 1/12/1966 and is rated 0.2 point(s) higher than the second highest rated, "Smack in the Middle".
7.8/10 1,102 votes#1 - Hi Diddle Riddle
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 1/12/1966
While the Riddler maneuvers Batman into being sued, the Dynamic Duo investigate the supervillain's concurrent scheme.
Director: Robert Butler
Writer: Lorenzo Semple Jr.
7.6/10 912 votes#2 - Smack in the Middle
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 1/13/1966
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.
7.5/10 755 votes#3 - Fine Feathered Finks
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 1/19/1966
The Penguin plots to manipulate Batman into inadvertently devising capers for him.
Director: Robert Butler
Writer: Lorenzo Semple Jr.
7.5/10 730 votes#4 - The Penguin's a Jinx
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 1/20/1966
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.
7.6/10 720 votes#5 - The Joker Is Wild
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 1/26/1966
The Joker decides to fight fire with fire against Batman with a utility belt of his own.
Director: Don Weis
Writer: Robert Dozier
7.6/10 682 votes#6 - Batman is Riled
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 1/27/1966
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
7.4/10 665 votes#7 - Instant Freeze
Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 2/2/1966
Mr. Freeze, thought to have perished, has returned and is seeking revenge on Batman. The villain is committing crimes involving diamonds, or "ice," in one form or another. He freezes Batman and Robin, who look like goners.
Director: Robert Butler
Writer: Max Hodge
7.2/10 632 votes#8 - Rats Like Cheese
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 2/3/1966
Vince, a temperamental physician at a Gotham City hospital (apparently a takeoff on Ben Casey), saves Batman and Robin. The Dynamic Duo resume their pursuit of Mr. Freeze. Eventually, Batman substitutes himself for Paul Diamonte, a baseball player, Mr. Freeze has kidnapped. Robin, disobeying Batman's orders to stay away, is also captured by the villain. Now, in his headquarters, Mr. Freeze is using his climate controls so that only Batman or Robin will have access to life-giving warmth.
Director: Robert Butler
Writer: Max Hodge
7.0/10 594 votes#9 - Zelda the Great
Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 2/9/1966
The Dynamic Duo arrange a trap for an elusive annual bank robber, but the female magician they are hunting is on to them with a new scheme of her own.
Director: Norman Foster
Writer: Lorenzo Semple Jr.
7.0/10 577 votes#10 - A Death Worse Than Fate
Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 2/10/1966
Told that her loot is genuine money after all, Zelda is forced to lure Batman and Robin into a possibly unsolvable deathtrap, with hitmen waiting outside to shoot them if they escape.
Director: Norman Foster
Writer: Lorenzo Semple Jr.
7.5/10 563 votes#11 - A Riddle a Day Keeps the Riddler Away
Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 2/16/1966
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
7.6/10 555 votes#12 - When the Rat's Away the Mice Will Play
Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 2/17/1966
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
7.3/10 553 votes#13 - The Thirteenth Hat
Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 2/23/1966
Jervis Tetsch, aka the Mad Hatter, is abducting all the jurors who convicted him of a previous crime wave. He is also taking their hats. His final target is none other than Batman, who provided the key testimony in the Mad Hatter's trial. Batman and Robin have the Mad Hatter and his gang cornered but the criminal mastermind manages to encase the Caped Crusader in plaster of Paris.
Director: Norman Foster
Writer: Charles Hoffman
7.2/10 536 votes#14 - Batman Stands Pat
Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 2/24/1966
Batman, thanks to superior breath control, is able to escape the plaster of Paris in which he was encased. Despite this, the Mad Hatter is still at large. Eventually, Batman and Robin again face off against the Mad Hatter at his criminal lair. Things look bad, but the Dyamic Duo manage to triumph.
Director: Norman Foster
Writer: Charles Hoffman
7.7/10 578 votes#15 - The Joker Goes to School
Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 3/2/1966
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.
7.6/10 547 votes#16 - He Meets His Match, The Grisly Ghoul
Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 3/3/1966
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.
7.7/10 566 votes#17 - True or False-Face
Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 3/9/1966
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
7.7/10 548 votes#18 - Holy Rat Race
Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 3/10/1966
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
8.1/10 612 votes#19 - The Purr-Fect Crime
Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 3/16/1966
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
8.0/10 572 votes#20 - Better Luck Next Time
Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 3/17/1966
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
7.7/10 507 votes#21 - The Penguin Goes Straight
Season 1 Episode 21 - Aired 3/23/1966
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.
7.6/10 486 votes#22 - Not Yet, He Ain't
Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 3/24/1966
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.
7.6/10 484 votes#23 - The Ring of Wax
Season 1 Episode 23 - Aired 3/30/1966
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
7.5/10 471 votes#24 - Give 'em the Axe
Season 1 Episode 24 - Aired 3/31/1966
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
7.5/10 468 votes#25 - The Joker Trumps an Ace
Season 1 Episode 25 - Aired 4/6/1966
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