Batman (1966) Episodes 85&86

 

In 1967 when the Batman series was riding high, ABC decided to turn the classic radio show Green Hornet into a companion superhero show to air along with Batman. William Dozier produced and narrated the series, which was more straight than the campy Batman show. Vaan Williams was Brit Reid who was owner of The Daily Sentinel. And of course his sidekick Kato was a very young Bruce Lee. Another difference from Batman was that to the public at large, Green Hornet and Kato were criminals. Though they did have an awesome car. And Hornet had a Hornet Sting weapon. There were nods between the two series during the Hornet’s one and only season, and even full on crossover. I know that seems common today with the MCU and DC Arrowverse, but in 1967 it was unheard of!

Episodes 85 & 86

A Piece of the Action/Batman’s Satisfaction

Plot:Green Hornet and Kato end up in Gotham chasing a stamp counterfeiter..and into direct confrontation with Batman and Robin

Guest Stars:Roger C Carmel as Colonel Gumm. Carmel is fine here but will always be Harry Mudd to me. And of course Williams and Lee.

Trivia:Writer Charles Hoffman did this one and many others. He does seem to be good as being able to combine characters and have them work well off each other. We have two awesome cars in this one. One is the Batmobile (which by the way is a customized 1955 Lincoln Futura) and the other is Green Hornet’s Black Beauty which really is a 1966 Imperial Crown Sedan. Having both these cars in one show is kinda epic.

Niitpick:Well of course Bruce Wayne and Brit Reid are old old friends. Lol

Bat Silliness:Pinky Pinkston lives up to her name, even the dog is pink

Window Cameo:Edward G Robinson

Bat Gadget:I like how despite all the incredible technology at his disposal Batman still used the yellow pages. And for once Robin gives Batman the motivational speech.

Bat Trap:Green Hornet and Kato are turned into stamps (except not really)

Final Thoughts:Green Hornet and Kato are in Gotham and that causes concern. Remember, to the public at large they are villains. For once our woman in the episode is a professional business owner. Yeah she inherited it, but I’ll take it. I like how this episode slows down so all the characters can interact a little bit with each other. I’m sure if I cared about the Green Hornet show these scenes would be fun to watch. Not that they’re not anyway. Colonel Gumm was an ok villain but I wish he had a little more going for him. They try to have him take on disguises which is ok. But he is defeated very simply. At first the villains clash and are about to fight. Which is a great moment. But they never truly team which is sad, Batman just kind of lets them go and considers the possibility they are good guys. But my favorite moment comes when Batman explains how he knew Green Hornet wasn’t really turned into a stamp. He seems to be reveling in being the smartest one in the room and I love that scene. Of course the two duo’s fight ends in standoff and the four fighting together is just awesome. A little more of our heroes working together would have been nice, but I still like what we got.

Grade:A Fantastic crossover I think they played it more straight because the Green Hornet was not campy and it was nice. Don’t worry there was silliness like using alphabet soup to get a clue. Also nice to know there are other crime fighters in this universe. True the plot could have been stronger but when you have a crossover like this the story tends to be dialed down so we have time for our characters to interact off each other. Heck the villain doesn’t even get top billing!