User Reviews

Aware of Penguin and Lola's plan, Bruce Wayne gets Batgirl to compete in the race riding a horse that belongs to him and passes Dick off as a Spanish jockey to also participate in the competition. Finally Penguin loses the race and tries to escape before his fraud is discovered but both he and Lola are stopped by the terrific trio. A very good second part where we can see for the first time the action take place in a racecourse.

Continues on from last week's Penguin/Lola Lasagne adventure.

This episode gives less screen time to Lola (great!) and more time to Adam West playing Bruce Wayne (instead of Batman).

When the 1966 Batman series ended I am told that Adam West was asked to play James Bond in Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)...but West turned down the role because he felt the role should be played by a British actor.

But the general suave nature of Bruce Wayne, seen in this episode, makes the viewer think that West would have made a really wonderful James Bond. Too bad he turned down the offer...and he later admitted to regretting the decision.

But away from all this, the later sections of A Horse Of A Different Color feature some outstanding location filming where Batgirl looks better than ever! All in all, a knockout Part Two that is much better than Part One.

Watching the Penguin "quack quack" and ride a racehorse in pretty campy stuff. Next, Batgirl is in the race, and coming up fast from behind... The Penguin and Lola Lasagna (Ethel Merman) are back at the rigged races, this time betting the $10,000 dollar ransom money on another horse, not counting on resourceful Batgirl, of course. It looks like the race scenes were filmed at Santa Anita, a beautiful and legendary track, where many movies and tv shows were lensed for decades. There's a lot of familiar actors here, such as Herb Anderson (dad on Dennis the Menace), playing the racing secretary. Look for Lewis Charles as Armband. Charles played a wide variety of Runyenesque characters through the years, from cops to bartenders to wise guy accomplices, always stealing a scene or two. That's Gary Owen's voice on the radio, without too much surprise. Ethel Merman supplies more wisecracks in this one, but the big surprise comes near the end with villainous King Tut (none other than Victor Buono) lurking about. Beware, folks! Buono said in later years that of all the movie and tv projects he worked on, BATMAN was the best experience because he was allowed to improvise and basically have fun with his character, much like Burgess Meredith and Ethel Merman. SEASON 3 EPISODE 9 dvd box set, now restored.

"A Horse of Another Color" continues the Penguin storyline from last week, the waddling bird planning to replace Wally Bootmaker (a play on Willie Shoemaker) in riding Lola Lasagne's filly Parasol in the Wayne Foundation Memorial Handicap (disguised as Bumbershoot), with Dick Grayson posing as a Spanish jockey riding the real Parasol, and Batgirl atop the only other horse in the race, Waynebeau, entered by Bruce Wayne himself. Yet another one time librarian working with Barbara Gordon is an unbilled Constance David as Myrtle. The most recognizable face belongs to Racing Secretary Herbert Anderson, from DENNIS THE MENACE, previously seen in "The Clock King's Crazy Crimes."

Omigod...where to start?

Season Three was already reduced to one episode weekly from two due to the white-hot ratings comet that was "Batman" in its first (half) season beginning to burn out just as quickly.

Then Yvonne Craig with her wooden line readings as "Batgirl" with her Bat Cycle was added to boost fading viewership. Seriously, no characters knew she was the daughter of Commissioner Gordon??

But this episode should replace the popular saying "jumped the shark" from "Happy Days" as a symbol of a series whose ideas are tapped out, soon to be cancelled. In fact, after Fonzie actually jumped a shark in "Happy Days" season five, the series ran for 164 more episodes over 5 new seasons.

This episode, filmed at Hollywood Park racetrack, featured Burgess Meredith and Broadway musicals star Ethel freakin' Merman(!) running around the park, then reduced the Penguin and Batgirl characters to riding racehorses to advance a laughable plot.

Unlike "Happy Days" shark episode, our beloved "Batman" series was gasping for air at this point, cancelled at season's end.