User Reviews

The Joker devises a plan to indoctrinate the students and divert them from their studies. To do this, and with a beautiful student and cheerleader as an accomplice, he manipulates the candy and soft drink vending machines so that they give away money. Faced with this easy way to obtain tickets, the morale of the young people begins to break down. Joker's crazy plan culminates in the disqualification of the main basketball team for proving their fraud in the final exams. This is one of the most emblematic and remembered episodes of the series because its argument revolves around the young students who were the main audience of the series, the young couple between Dick and Suzie (Burt Wars and Donna Loren) is one of the most remembered from the series too. The cliffhanger where Joker traps Batman and Robin in electric chairs connected to a fruit machine game and they are saved by a massive power outage at the precise moment of the electric discharge (remember that in those years there was a big blackout in the city of New York) is also another iconic moment from the series.

"He Meets His Match, the Grisly Ghoul" continues the dark twisted Joker from season one, his attempted electrocution of Batman and Robin foiled by a timely blackout ("just like New York!"). A voice analyzer reveals that Dick Grayson's crush, sweet Susie (Donna Loren), is secretly in league with The Joker (Cesar Romero), the one planting silver dollars or test results in machines all over the high school. When 'Dickie boy' Grayson shows up at the Easy Living Candy Store to make an impression on Susie, he only succeeds in making the wrong one, strictly amateur night in cigarette smoking, but it's enough for the evil Joker to cover his tracks by offering her a special perfume laced with poison, which almost succeeds. From here it's not difficult to foil his latest ghastly joke, corrupting Woodrow Roosevelt High's athletic honor students using examination papers with the answers provided, forcing them to throw the big game for big money. One might think this endeavor to be a comedown from Romero's debut, but considering what would transpire the third season it's a virtual classic, still reasonably serious per Lorenzo Semple Jr. (attempted murder is no joke!).

Robin, as Dick Grayson, falls cape over heels for lovely cheerleader Susie, who turns out to be in cahoots with the diabolical Joker! He is really stuck on her. Now what? In the meanwhile, the Joker blackmails the city basketball team into throwing the championship game --after he plants final exam answers in a vending machine -- then takes their picture as they read everything. What a fink! More to come...

Actress and singer Donna Loren plays bittersweet Susie, who was best known at the time as the "Dr. Pepper Girl" in tv commercials, also appearing in a number of tv shows in the 1960s. Best scene has Batman and Robin saved from being electrocuted due to a power outage? This gag was obviously lifted from the very real New York City power outage in 1965. And the best line... "Three lemons to get 50,000 volts." Character and voice actor Kip King plays Susie's sidekick, Nick, whose real life son is comedian Chris Kattan. King appeared in several top sitcoms and movies in the 60s and 70s.

There's also a POW, ZAP fight scene to look forward to. Burt Ward commented in later years that unlike star Adam West, he had to do his own stunts. The stunt man made more money per hour, so Ward was the next in line and reportedly frequently admitted to the ER during shooting. Lorenzo Semple wrote most of the early episodes and is credited for coming up with the POW, ZAP and BIFF's during each classic fight, also the Holy (blank...) Batman line Robin is so famous for. Semple claimed he was inspired by the old TOM SWIFT action stories. Semple a few years later would write the cult thriller PRETTY POISON (1968), also the campy space flick FLASH GORDON (1980).

Watch carefully: Dick Grayson encounters Nick and Susie in an ice cream shop and is offered a cigarette. Dick claims he's already smoked two packs (acting real cool) and does not light up. This could have been delibertly written as an "anti-smoking" scene, so you would NOT see our caped hero smoking on camera. It is an awkward scene, but in the end it does make good sense.

Another dynamo episode. SEASON 2 EPISODE 16 restored dvd box set.

Crime goes to school and so does the Joker. Cheerleader Suzie has fallen for the greed and teamed up with the Joker.

Only his dastardly plans to jolt the dynamic duo fails. Life has given the Joker lemons and he is in no mood to make lemonade.

Batman sends Dick Grayson undercover. Hoping to use Suzie to infiltrate the Joker's gang, but he runs out of puff.

Dick Grayson is too square to go undercover and places Suzie at risk. The smell of success will not be so sweet for Suzie.

While the students are going to set up to fail in sports. The Joker has a betting scam on the outcome of the basketball match. All he needs to do is set up the basketball students as being cheats.

An enjoyable outing, certainly rather camp. It was fun to see Dick Grayson decked in a leather jacket trying to be streetwise and failing.