The Best Episodes of Batman Season 2

The Joker persuades wealthy heiress Baby Jane Towser to join him in his artistic capers. Aided by his new accomplice, the Joker easily clears out a wing of the Gotham City Museum to make room for his latest "masterpiece" - pieces of a broken table. But the laughing criminal has plans for the priceless collection of paintings that once filled the room.

Director: George Waggner

Writer: Stanford Sherman

The Catwoman manages to drug Robin. The junior member of the Dynamic Duo is now the Catwoman's mindless slave. Batman is on the trail of the sultry villain, but he's hampered by the fact he can't harm his partner. Eventually, Batman is trapped by the Catwoman. He's in a giant trap and Robin is cutting the rope that will cause a giant mouse trap to snap on Batman. The Catwoman offers Batman a choice -- die by Robin's hand or agree to be subjected to the same drug.

Director: Oscar Rudolph

Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross

Batman agrees to let the Catwoman drug him. But he appears to have a headache and the Catwoman permits him to take an aspirin. After the drug is administered, Batman appears to assist Catwoman on her crime wave. However, the police receive anonymous telephone calls that enable them to pick up members of Catwoman's gang, including the drugged Robin. Meanwhile, the Gotham City police try to trace the hot line to the Batcave. Batman is there with Catwoman. He uses a device that foils the trace. Eventually, Batman reveals he hadn't taken an aspirin but his universal drug antidote that prevented the drug from working. Catwoman tries to flee on top of a warehouse near the Gotham River. Batman is in pursuit and corners her. But, unwilling to go straight, she falls into the river. Has she lost her life, or just one of her nine lives?

Director: Oscar Rudolph

Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross

Catwoman goes ahead with her scheme to steal several Batagonian Cat's Eye opals, but she has trouble finding someone to fence them since such rare stones would be easily spotted. With little recourse left, she decides to turn them in for the reward money. It seems like the perfect job for her acquaintance, Freddy the Fence. But when he notices that the gems are fakes, Catwoman realizes she has been tricked by Batman and vows to get revenge on the Caped Crusader once and for all.

Director: Robert Sparr

Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross

Egghead steals the Gotham City charter. He finds a loophole that could give him control of Gotham City if descendants of the original founding families (including Bruce Wayne) do not pay nine raccoon pelts to Chief Screaming Chicken on time. Not only is he interested in stopping the payment, but Egghead believes he also has a lead on Batman's true identity.

Director: George Waggner

Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross

When the lease payment for Gotham City fails to be made on time, possession of the city falls into the hands of Egghead. Chaos ensues as the villain fires Commissioner Gordon and bans the Dynamic Duo from city limits. While the criminal underworld enjoys free reign, Batman and Robin search the city charter's fine print for a solution.

Director: George Waggner

Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross

The Penguin appears to have gone straight. (Evidently the citizens of Gotham City have short memories; he tried the same trick in season one.) Not only that, he has emerged as the leading contender for mayor of Gotham City, thanks to a little-known provision of the city charter that permits felons to run for elective office. Mayor Linseed, facing almost certain defeat, convinces Batman to run for mayor. This displeases the Penguin, who doesn't want to leave anything to chance. He lures Batman and Robin into a trap and, by episode's end, things don't look good for the Dynamic Duo.

Director: Oscar Rudolph

Writer: Stanford Sherman

The Catwoman "steals" the voice of a television talk-show host in the middle of an interview with Bruce Wayne. She plants clues to suggest either the Joker, Riddler or Penguin may have committed the crime. In the meantime, she has fooled Commissioner Gordon into thinking she has gone straight. She makes her first mistake when she masquerades as Miss Klutz, a dance instructor visiting Wayne Manor. Allergic to dogwood, she sneezes and gives herself away. Her next target is to "steal" the voices of British singers Chad and Jeremy. Batman and Robin eventually track her to a dance studio, where a fight erupts. After it appears the Dynamic Duo has triumphed over Catwoman's forces, she drugs them. The heroes are placed inside a chamber where the sounds of water dripping will be magnified many, many times and drive them insane.

Director: James B. Clark

Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross

Batman and Robin escape Catwoman's trap by hitting the precise note needed to shatter the glass chamber in which they're prisoners. They quickly get on the trail of Catwoman. The feminine feline criminal eventually "steals" the voices of Chad and Jeremy, Commissioner Gordon and talk-show host Allen Stephens. She blackmails the British government, which faces the lost of revenue from the taxes on Chad and Jeremy's performances. Batman and Robin eventually capture Catwoman and her gang, but not before Batman and Catwoman express obvious affection for each other.

Director: James B. Clark

Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross

The Joker and the Penguin team up on a crime wave based on signs of the zodiac. The pair, aided and abetted by a woman known as Venus, keep Batman and Robin on the run. The Dynamic Duo manage to capture the Penguin but the Joker remains on the loose. Batman and Robin figure the Joker's next caper will take place at a museum and lay a trap. But the heroes are captured instead. Now, Batman and Robin face almost certain death; the heroes are to be crushed beneath a giant asteroid on display at the museum.

Director: Oscar Rudolph

Writer: Stephen Kandel, Stanford Sherman

Batman, summoning all the strength he can muster, breaks his chains and frees Robin from the giant clam. The heroes arrange for the Joker's former confederate, Venus, to stay at an apartment while they figure out what to do next. Meanwhile, the Joker has freed the Penguin from Gotham State Prison to continue their crime wave. The Joker tricks Venus into asking Batman to take her to the Batcave. The Dynamic Duo take her to their base of operations (but only after making her fall asleep first). When they arrive, the Joker, Penguin and assorted thugs are revealed to be hiding in the Batmobile's trunk. Batman, however, anticipated this and none of the criminals know where the Batcave is. A figure erupts, with Batman and Robin finally ending the zodiac crimes.

Director: Oscar Rudolph

Writer: Stephen Kandel, Stanford Sherman

Counterfeit money is being distributed by respectable citizens in Gotham City. Batman and Robin investigate, and find one of the Joker's lifelike robots substituting for a bank teller. They are certain who is behind the crime. But to get actual proof, Batman plans to visit the villain as Bruce Wayne and trick him into disclosing his operation. When his scheme suddenly backfires, it appears he will instead have to appoint the Joker as Vice Chairman of the Gotham National Bank.

Director: Oscar Rudolph

Writer: Lorenzo Semple Jr.

Catwoman disguises herself as a wealthy recluse - Minerva Matthews - to exchange a quarter million dollars for two Stradivarius violins. Once the instruments are safely in her hands, the villain reveals her true identity and demands the cash back. But Catwoman is surprised to learn that her business partner - Zubin Zucchini - is also not who he appears to be.

Director: Don Weis

Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross

After escaping the Penguin's death trap, Batman still faces an uphill run to defeat the Penguin in the race for mayor of Gotham City. The Feathered Fiend uses every dirty trick he can think of to ruin Batman's reputation. But the Penguin discovers opinion polls aren't what they are cracked up to be. Still, Batman and Robin will need to subdue the villain before his plot can be put down once and for all.

Director: Oscar Rudolph

Writer: Stanford Sherman

Batman and Robin narrowly escape the Joker's death trap and quickly get back on the villain's trail. The villain runs the Gothham City Police Department ragged with his crimes based on the zodiac. Meanwhile, Venus, the Joker's accomplice, warms to Batman. Eventually, the Dynamic Duo again corner the Joker. But, once more, the heroes are captured. Now, Batman, Robin and Venus are chained in a shallow pool with a giant clam. The clam swallows Robin and Batman and Venus will be next on its menu.

Director: Oscar Rudolph

Writer: Stephen Kandel, Stanford Sherman

The Joker is now Vice Chairman of the Gotham National Bank, due to an unsuccessful plan of Batman's. He installs his robots as tellers, and despite his criminal past, seems to be running things in perfect order. The Dynamic Duo realize they will have to trick him into making a mistake in order to remove him. They go to work on a plan to gain control of his robots. But that plan is jeopardized when, due to an odd turn of events, Batman's true identity Bruce Wayne is declared mentally ill and hauled off in a straight-jacket.

Director: Oscar Rudolph

Writer: Lorenzo Semple Jr.

Catwoman is released from prison, and claiming she wants to enrich her education, enrolls at Gotham City University. She dresses one of her own henchmen as the Caped Crusader in order to frame him for a robbery. With Batman in jail, she goes ahead with her plan for a mass sit-in at Chimes Square. Catwoman is more than surprised when Batman himself shows up at the event. However, his efforts to expose the villainess are futile, and she prepares to terminate him and Robin in front of the whole crowd.

Director: Robert Sparr

Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross

Catwoman makes her return known with a string of robberies. Hoping to lure her into a trap, Batman plants a news blurb giving the whereabouts of a rare canary, but Catwoman is tipped off and arrives prepared. Batman and Robin follow a lead to Catwoman's hideout, the Pink Sandbox, but soon discover that this villain has been waiting for them.

Director: Don Weis

Writer: Stanley Ralph Ross

Mr. Freeze is in town, and has begun a new cold wave of terror. He launches "Operation Hate Batman," framing the Caped Crusader as taking a bribe and dressing his own henchmen as Batman and Robin. As the negative press mounts, Mr. Freeze works on his plan to turn the Dynamic Duo into human Frosty Freezies.

Director: George Waggner

Writer: Max Hodge

Penguin has opened a fancy restaurant called The Penguin's Nest. There every order has to be written down by the customers on a piece of paper. He then plans to get himself arrested and hand over the handwritten notes to a forger doing time by the name of Ballpoint Baxter. Suspecting a scheme, Batman urges the police not to send The Penguin back to his permanent cell. Unable to reach Ballpoint, The Penguin and his culinary cohorts escape from jail, taking Chief O'Hara along as a hostage.

Director: Murray Golden

Writer: Lorenzo Semple Jr.

The Green Hornet and Kato are in Gotham City to bust a counterfeiting stamp ring. Believed to be arch-criminals by nearly everyone, their midnight visit to Colonel Gumm at the Pink Chip Stamps Factory stirs alarm. Even Batman and Robin believe they are out for a piece of the action. Figuring the Green Hornet's goal must be the Gotham Gothic, a rare and valuable stamp, they trail him and Kato to the Pink Chip Stamps Factory. But when Colonel Gumm and his men make giant stamps out of the visiting crime fighters, it appears Batman and Robin will be doomed to the same fate.

Director: Oscar Rudolph

Writer: Charles Hoffman

King Tut has relapsed into his kingly ways, this time showing a marked interest in scarab beetles and apothecary potions. Robin infiltrates their hideout to discover their true intentions, relaying what he hears to Batman, but their plan is put in jeopardy when Robin's presence is detected.

Director: Larry Peerce

Writer: Robert C. Dennis, Earl Barret

Now in charge of the Gotham State Pen, Ma Parker and her jailhouse full of criminal cohorts use it as their base of operations. No one suspects jailed prisoners of the crimes, but a clue picked up by Batman and Robin may lead them right to Ma's whereabouts.

Director: Oscar Rudolph

Writer: Henry Slesar

Attempting to save Chief O'Hara from drowning inside a metal trunk, Batman and Robin find themselves under fire from the Penguin's henchmen. Batman instructs Alfred to pose as famous forger Quill-Pen Quertch (complete with false fingerprints), but the Penguin recognizes Alfred as soon as he puts on his glasses. The evil Bird-man and his cronies then visit stately Wayne manor brandishing a giant Butler-pie.

Director: Murray Golden

Writer: Lorenzo Semple Jr.

Catwoman and the Sandman have teamed up, and they're after the fortunes of J. Pauline Spaghetti, a rich insomniac. Catwoman pulls a publicity stunt, getting the Sandman (under the guise of "Dr. Somnambula") an invitation to Spaghetti's penthouse - and her financial records. Batman and Robin investigate the situation, but soon find themselves trapped by the criminals.

Director: George Waggner

Writer: Charles Hoffman, Ellis St. Joseph