Batman (1966) Episodes 67&68

Episodes 67 & 68
The Sandman Cometh/The Catwoman Goeth

Plot:Sandman and Catwoman conspire to steal the fortune of J Pauline Spaghetti, who hasn’t slept in seven years

Guest Stars:Michael Rennie as Sandman and Julie Newmar as Catwoman

 

Trivia:This episode wasn’t supposed to include Catwoman originally so if she feels like she was shoehorned in, she was.

 

Niitpick:While it’s nice to see some villain cross over’s the sad result in this one is that it reduces Catwoman to the villain’s Sidekick here. Why does Sandman wear a man fur??

Bat Silliness:Alfred gives Batman a ride on the Alfcycle while some dumb rookie cop tries to give Batman a parking ticket (the kid doesn’t know who Batman and Robin are? He needs to read a Gotham paper once in awhile).

Bat Gadget:Final appearance of the Batboat (and the stock footage). I wonder how many times the creators really thought they would use that? For once the Bat Signal is used to summon Batman. Batman has a Batmobile Tracking Map.

Bat Trap:Batman Strapped to a bed while a button stitching machine operated by Robin bears down. Robin put into a maze like a mouse.

Final Thoughts:Catwoman and Sandman waste no time teaming up here. So, what is Sandman’s gimmick? Nothing really, he uses a powder to make people sleep (and sleepwalk). No wonder the creators didn’t think he could carry an episode himself. Sandman uses Catwoman to get close to J Pauline Spaghetti (a parody of Jean Paul Getty). It’s one of those episodes where we’re miles ahead of Batman and Robin which isn’t much fun. We also get Batman and Robin appearing on the scene but unable to convince a victim that they were victimized. Two episodes in a row! Need more evidence Catwoman is just the help here? For once we have no token female! We do get a female undercover cop who is cool. Oh and did I mention Sandman steals the batmobile? Sigh. Robin mesmerized by Sandman and made to be evil is different, I’m sure we wont get the same idea in another Catwoman episode in a few days at all. Part 2 is a Catwoman episode for most of it just minus a real ending and then we get back to the main Sandman plot. For the last five minutes. Badly structured. We don’t even see how Batman rescued Robin from that maze! Oh and why the batboat? Sandman whisked her away to her private island. Whatever.

 

 

Grade:C+ Once again Newmar demonstrates how awesome she is with her acting skills. The creators were right, no way Sandman could have carried this episode alone. Catwoman is forced into the story. The rest is Sandman wooing Spaghetti, at least with Chandel we knew Aunt Harriett so we cared!