"Batman" The Joker's Flying Saucer (TV Episode 1968) Poster

(TV Series)

(1968)

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7/10
30 MINUTES TURNED OUT TO BE A LITTLE TIME TO DEVELOP THIS EPISODE
asalerno1028 June 2022
With a henchman disguised as a Martian, Joker sows panic in the city, making the town believe that an alien invasion is taking place. Then he dedicates himself to assembling a flying saucer with the intention of subjecting Gotham City to his whims, threatening destruction from outer space if they do not obey his orders. This episode should have been filmed in two parts, as there would seem to be a lot of missing scenes. When Joker heads to Wayne Manor to seize the Beryllium, a bomb explodes in the batcave that puts the dynamic duo to sleep for 12 hours, thus saving the production from making important sequences that make the story seem incomplete or cut. .
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The Last Joker Show To Go To Air
StuOz20 March 2010
The Joker is one of the many big attractions to this series, yes I love Batman and Robin as well, but The Joker just has to laugh or make a bitchy comment and I am having a ball just watching him. Joker's Flying Saucer might not be the best Joker show, and considering the episode title you would think they could have added more Lost In Space props/costumes, but there is enough fun to be had by watching this.

It would have been more fun if the saucer did what flying saucers do and go to other planets. Instead, it does not seem to do much at all. We are now very close to the 1968 final episode of this series, and also in this year Fox's Lost In Space/Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea would end.

Fox was still a great studio beyond 1968 but, to me, it was never the same once The Bat/Jupiter 2/Seaview left the building.
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10/10
DON'T FORGET THE BERYLLIUM!
tcchelsey30 April 2023
The outrageous Joker needs Beryllium metal to operate his new flying saucer. So why not steal some?

Of course the Joker stole anything and everything in sight, including kidnapping Batgirl. The best running gag in the series had to be Batgirl playing the adult in the room, always calm and composed, not matter what --including being strapped to a rocket in this story. Yvonne Craig was the one to watch, and truly an intriguing character any time she donned her Batgirl costume. Ditto for Caesar Romero as the Joker, the villain of villains on steroids. He made the rounds on tv talk shows in later years and was always asked to do his iconic cackle. Not to be missed! It's obvious Romero enjoyed this role, not only an actor, but the consummate entertainer at heart. Note: The only debit here is the space ship props seem skimpy, and I do agree with the last reviewer that this episode could have easily been stretched into a two part episode, there was lots of material to keep it going. The Joker and a flying saucer. What else do you need? In any case, still campy stuff and catch the Joker teaming up with a "green" alien? There's also some familiar faces, such as comedy legend Fritz Feld as Professor Greenleaf and Ellen Corby (grandma Walton) as a lady who claims she saw a man from outer space? Special guest star is French actress Corinne Calvet as Emerald. Calvet was popular on tv and had recently appeared in several episodes of BURKES LAW. According to bio notes, her mother was a distinguished inventor and was co-inventor of pyrex glass. Then husband and wife Ida Lupino (as Dr. Cassandra) and Howard Duff (as Caballa) make a gag appearance as a cozy pair of jewel thieves. Stay tuned! All in all a neat episode that runs fast, replete with Batman and Robin caught up in a knock em bop em fight scene. SEASON 3 (1968) dvd box set. Restored.
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4/10
Cesar Romero is out of this world
kevinolzak1 May 2016
Having seen the last of Burgess Meredith's Penguin, "The Joker's Flying Saucer" marked the finale for Cesar Romero's fun filled Joker, his last appearance, like Meredith's, the best from this dreary season. A great deal gets crammed into this half hour, as Gotham City is gripped by a Martian invasion invented by The Joker, with Ellen Corby's Mrs. Green claiming to have had a conversation with a little green man just three feet tall, while Fritz Feld's Prof. Greenleaf spots another while conversing with Barbara Gordon at the public library. Even Byron Keith's Mayor Linseed nearly falls to pieces when it appears that the Dynamic Duo may have fallen victim to a time bomb planted by an actual green skinned accomplice of The Joker (Richard Bakalyan). Designing plans to build a flying saucer from beryllium stolen from the Wayne Foundation, inspired by a former cellmate who just happened to double as a mad scientist, The Joker kidnaps the ever present Alfred to build the contraption in a matter of hours (!), actually taking off from its abandoned launching pad factory on Flying Circus Hill, the Clown Prince of Crime seeking to make his demands for total capitulation by swooping down from outer space (stock footage lifted from the 1953 "Invaders from Mars"). For the sixth and last time, both the Batcycle and Batcopter are seen briefly in more stock footage from the feature film. Richard Bakalyan was one of the most frequent henchmen, in support of Frank Gorshin's Riddler, Victor Buono's King Tut, and Milton Berle's Louie the Lilac, while Fritz Feld had previously featured in "Pop Goes the Joker." This was also the tenth and final outing for Byron Keith as Gotham City's Mayor Linseed, a play on then-mayor of New York City John Lindsay. French sex kitten Corinne Calvet hasn't much to do as this episode's moll Emerald, but with her once busy TV career slowing to a crawl she was one of its more delightful surprises. Cesar Romero's familiar laugh would be heard no more after this broadcast from February 1968, but he was able to bow out gracefully knowing that his was the most popular villain in the show's two year history (along with Burgess Meredith's identical number of entries).
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