User Reviews

"Flop Goes the Joker" starts off with Robin set to be sliced and diced, until Bruce Wayne manages to crawl underneath the huge contraption and stop it with his still bound body. Once Robin manages to worm himself loose and cut Wayne's bonds the pair confront The Joker (Cesar Romero) and his hostages, only for Baby Jane Towser (Diana Ivarson) to stand by him and refuse to press charges, but at least she's astute enough to comment on his artistic talent: "it's certainly not the work of an ordinary mind!" At the Towser mansion, Joker receives inspiration from the antique dining table, throwing cans of paint all over it and having his henchmen hack it to pieces, all in the name of art. His ultimate goal is to remove all of the art treasures from the gallery of Bernie Park (Reginald Gardiner) and replace them with worthless items, but Batman beats him to the punch, resulting in Joker's unwitting acquisition of a number of personal paintings done by Alfred the butler! Foiled yet again by the Caped Crusader, Joker grabs Baby Jane once more and makes his way over to Stately Wayne Manor for some quick cash, only to find surprising resistance from that pesky butler. No match for Alfred in the art of fencing, The Joker barges into the sacred study, discovers the secret switch inside the bust of Shakespeare, and proceeds to slide down the Batpole toward the Batcave. At this juncture, Batman arrives to find Alfred in complete control of the situation, sending the pale faced pirate up and down the pole, too frightened to realize how close he came to learning Bruce Wayne's dual identity. It's a comfort to know that, even with an obvious dive in quality as the series progressed, Cesar Romero and Burgess Meredith didn't suffer fools in their classic characterizations. This was the final performance of 83 year old Owen McGiveney, as the Towser butler (given no lines), his career arc similar to Burt Mustin in that he only began appearing on screen in the late 1940s.

After carrying out an attack on an art gallery, the Joker enrolls in a modern art contest, the daughter of a billionaire is attracted to the criminal and puts herself at his disposal, unaware that the villain will use her to seize a valuable collection of paintings that are exhibited in the Museum of Gothic City. This exciting and great episode features hilarious moments like the bizarre painting contest, as well as one of the series' bloodiest traps worthy of the Jigsaw saga where Robin is put into a machine with movable swords that will literally bite him alive! The ending of this episode is a blast with The Joker breaking into Wayne Manor and finding the secret entrance to the batcave.