The down side of the movie was that the production of season two ended up rushed. As a result it was not planned out very well. And as the season commenced, ratings started to drop. Originally when I wrote this I said I never understood that. The show was massively popular, and the movie did just fine, what was it that made people lose interest so quickly? Star Trek never lost their fans, the network screwed the show when they reluctantly agreed to a third season (because of the fans!). But after watching some episodes, yeah I can see a problem. As we’ll discuss the emphasis seemed to be to hire a big named actor and then make the villain for them to play. As a result we get actors not suited for the show playing characters not well thought out. And our first examples of this is in our first episode of season 2……
Episodes 35 & 36
Shoot a Crooked Arrow/Walk the Straight and Narrow
Plot:The Archer is out to steal from rich and give to the poor as a distraction to his real crime involving counterfeit bills.
Guest Stars:Art Carny as The Archer who is flat boring. This is one of those episodes I can remember parts of it but never the villain. Watching it again, it’s not hard to see why.
Trivia:Thanks to the movie we have wonderful stock footage of the boat and copter to expand the series a bit.
Niitpick:Can someone explain to me why the Archer has a henchman carry around a recorder that plays the sounds of an audience cheering for him every time he does anything? He explained what it is but not why he needs it. When its destroyed he is whines his audience is gone, but the scene is so badly acted it barely seems like an annoyance to him.
Bat Silliness:One of my favorite Bat moments happens here. As Batman and Robin speed off, we cut to a traffic stop where a lady asks the officer why Batman and Robin can speed off like that. The officer explains that Batman has the same privilege as the police when they are on a case. But when he is not on a case, you wont find a more safe driver. LOL
Window Cameo:Dick Clark, If you’re wondering usually they are playing some character. Either a citizen or visitor to Gotham excited to see the Dyanmic Duo.
Bat Gadget:The Duo escape their trap thanks to Bat Springs in their boots. Batman using Looney Tunes logic! Bruce uses a Bat Speech Imitator so when Alfred is disguised as him he can speak as Batman
Bat Trap:Batman and Robin against jousting swords. It’s as lame as it sounds.
Final Thoughts:Art Carny is awesome but wow what a horrible villain. A Robin Hood knockoff? I give credit that the opening is done differently, with an attack on Wayne Manor. The episode seems to be confused, did Robin Hood have anything to do with medevil times? We’re back to the formula of Batman setting up a trap for the villain and blowing it. The real problem is the villain, it feels like Batman should be able to defeat easily. In fact, he does but Archer is immediately bailed by grateful citizens. Carny sells none of the scenes he’s in and the episode plods on. One funny thing is when Alfred masquerades as Batman (from a distance) so he and Bruce Wayne can be at the same place at the same time. The villain is so boring they need another to fill the episode and thank goodness Archer is holed up at sea so we can use that beautiful movie stock footage. At the time that probably seemed logical since people probably saw the movie once and never again. But in our video age where we can watch movies over and over, the reused footage is just glaring!
Grade:C-, Carny can’t sell a thing in this episode. One or two silly moments keep it from being a total flop.
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