Episode 14: Holy Frogman!: October 31, 2021

Batman Stands Pat
February 24,1966
"Batman, thanks to superior breath control, is able to escape the plaster of Paris in which he was encased. Despite this, the Mad Hatter is still at large. Eventually, Batman and Robin again face off against the Mad Hatter at his criminal lair. Things look bad, but the Dynamic Duo manage to triumph."
71 minutes

RD Is Also "Somewhat Irritating". That's a weird Halloween costume. He is also on the tail-end of a cold. Discussing his old school Colts cap leads to Eric Bischoff at his Wyoming ranch tending to the animals.

The Narrator has "another dish and another snatch" for the Mad Hatter. (:05) Vince also has his own Patreon where one of his subscribers delivered a pizza to Burt Ward for zero (0) in tips. 

Narrator: "Holy sombrero!...Is Batman permanently plastered?"

"Monsieur Marble" very slowly sculpts away at Batman's head to get a mold of the cowl so Hatter can make money off selling copies. He sends his henchmen to (fail to) secure the Batmobile. Robin is tied shibari-style to a marble horse. Vince would have preferred him tied to a "radyater". RD responds to Vince's dislike of his cold nose sounds with a screen capture of tied Robin. Vince: "What the frig, man?" RD: "Doesn't his hair look a little must up too?"

Batman is of course still alive, and Hatter's mesmerizer isn't working, so he makes a break for it. Batman releases Robin as he tells him how: "I held my breath." Robin: "Holy frogman!" 

Back at the Batcave Robin finds being beaten and not knowing the full scheme "somewhat irritating". Batman calls up Gordon: "has there been any more reports of hat thefts or disappearing people?"

Batman: "What comes in twelves?"
Robin: "A dozen donuts." 

Batman punches himself in the head when he figures it involves a jury: "How could I have been so stupid?" There is one more hat, "the key that will hoist our opponent on his own petard!"

Vince has to entertain the people. He uses it to cut a promo against him. RD responds by blowing his nose. (:22)

Alfred easily pulls up the jury's names within five seconds, far faster than anything the police would ever do. The last juror is named Turkey Bullwinkle and he owns a bowling alley that is never seen. He sounds like a WWCR character. A very happy Alfred is sent to go see him to bug his hat. Alfred's cover is that he is a genealogist. Turkey: "GHOSTS???"

As expected Hatter appears with Lisa still wearing the same dress. Vince hope it doesn't smell). He hides in a transparent glass telephone booth while she tries to charm Turkey's Batpole and "virile charm". She gives Tetsch an "iggy" sign (used in the ring to show someone is alright) that the hat is upstairs, already bugged in an unstable place in the brim. Turkey: "Who let you out of the joint, Tetsch?" 

RD blows his nose much to Vince's disgust. He hides it with tied Robin. (:35)

Tetsch and Turkey fight, and Hatter mesmerizes Turkey who goes cross-eyed, but he discovers he's being tracked. He allows it to lead Batman to his hat torturer, then goes off on another soliloquy about putting Batman on his head. Vince gives it applause. The cronies are still hungry. 

Hatter then watches the Duo as they come to his place and get out the Batropes. RD points out that for some reason Batman has a huge hole in the back of his suit under the cape. Vince gives him applause. RD shakes his head in disapproval. (:42)

The Duo smash through a window and immediately get captured at gunpoint (a first in the series so far) while Lisa is "up to her pretty neck in evil": "Oh Jervis! How droll!" Vince gives it applause.

Instead of shooting them or taking the cowl as originally desired, Hatter just decides to put them in the machine. Vince wonders why he didn't threaten Robin's life. Batman responds by starting a very long fight, the long in the show so far (better than last week's anyway), while Robin finds himself under some highly elevated claws.

Vince: "He's into muskrat hats?"
RD: "Who isn't?"

Hatter is thrown into acid. Batman: "Well, I suppose he's passed the acid test." Lisa is left for the courts. The police arrive late because they got lost a la Sid Vicious. Vince asks RD to induct his "one WrestleCrap moment" where Vader was under the ring and became dazed and confused by all the pyro and ballyhoo being set off. 

Aunt Harriet buys an $800 hat that is put on Bruce's "tab". Despite not wearing a hat at all in the scene he randomly says: "I thought I was wearing a hat when I came in." RD thinks he means his cowl. 

The Mad Hatter will only make one more appearance after this, which saddens the Co-Bros as they thought he was a good villain for once. (:60 - :69) RD found out actor David Wayne won two Tonys, appeared in The Golden Girls (with Bea Arthur), The Apple Dumpling Gang, and An American Christmas Carol. Vince has a Munster's Christmas movie written by Ed Ferrara on DVD. He goes to get it while RD entertains the people.


  • Special Guest Villain: The Mad Hatter (David Wayne)

  • Screen Shares: 2. RD, RD
  • Brown Hornet Escapes: 1. I held my breath.
  • Entertain The People: 3
  • Bugs: 1
  • SPEAKING OFs: 1. Those things



Blade may be dead but that's no excuse to forget to say please and thank ya this Halloween after watching out for those idiots in cars. Isn't that right, Roddy Piper?




Rowdy Roddy Piper's Halloween Tips (1989) Uploaded by RVM Kai

Round Three - Brawl: October 30, 2021

51 minutes

RD is Russo's Butterbean. He also has a slight cold. Sadly he does not suffer from Burgess Meredith Penguin cough. 

Vince remembered when McMahon first told him in his limo about the other WWF which may necessitate a name change. RD calls McMahon a dim-bulb.

Today the two will fight over one of Vince's most infamous things: 1997's Brawl For All. First Vince promotional considerations Yoo-hoo in a can, which apparently is hard to find. He then maintains his desire to remain apathetic. (:05) 

Vince wanted to try out something new, partly due to wanting to see something new, and having to tell McMahon (so people would know who to blame). RD does his Dr. D impression. Vince also had verbal heat against JBL, leading to backstage at Raw where he told Vince and their shared friend Kevin Kelley he would definitely knock people out for real. Vince wanted to see if he could prove it but without hurting anybody. RD: "I don't think you were thinking at all!" There was also the opportunity to counter the then still growing UFC. But as expected McMahon "gets off".  

It's then that Vince washes his hand of the entire concept by handing it off to McMahon to squander into the ground. (:18) He then hands it to Bruce Pritchard to make calls to see who is available. Vince only heard who would be involved, but he noticed that the promise of good money (for once) drew in many people (who also might have wanted to punch Marc Mero in the face). 

Vince absolutely refutes the theory that Steve Williams was the favorite to win, placing it all on Jim Ross boasting like he was trying to sell turkeys or something, and in fact making more fans to root against him. (:25) Vince enjoyed working with Steve regardless. During this JBL said nothing being sheepish on what was happening as a result of his words, while Bart Gunn felt determined to go all the way and win and discount all those thinking otherwise. Vince thought Godfather would win. 

Vince admits that if he had known more about the dangers of brain injury and damage as he does now he would never have pitched the idea, especially as people started getting injured for real. (:30) He refutes Bryan Alvarez stating that people knew about the dangers back then (they didn't as much). RD states for Bryan that knowledge or not, the danger of head trauma was still real. Vince still disagrees; even after his own concussion by Ric Flair in '99, he kept getting in rings and further risking his head, even knowing he was concussed but without knowing the full ramifications. RD philosophically agrees with he and Bryan. 

In turn Vince tries to be philosophical when he saw JBL get knocked out by Bart "Simpson" Gunn; he was not pleased, only shocked that it happened as it did. (:37) RD: "You never been in a bar fight, Vince Russo?"

Vince did not remember if he had the idea for Bart to fight Butterbean at Wrestlemania, but he was influenced by him "100%" that he thought it would be a proper and fully competitive bout. They even had Mero's boxing trainer to train Bart, furthering his confidence to try to box. However, according to Bart that also brought him out of the mentality of the earlier free-for-all brawl, and this confusion got into his fight. Vince was shocked he lost so quickly without even having some sort of fighting chance. 

Now in hindsight and knowing what happened with Bart after (including Japan), would Vince have done it all over again? "Yes." He does take all the responsibility for what happened to Bart after in WWF which wasn't helped by recent events and Steve Austin cutting better promos. RD thinks a good manager would have helped his case, even if they weren't in vogue during the Attitude Era.

That just leaves one more question from RD: (:45)

"Who wins in the Brawl For All finale: Riddler or Joker?" 

Vince has the more athletic Riddler. But what about Joker's baseball arm?

Episode 13: Holy Albatross!: October 24, 2021

The Thirteenth Hat
February 23, 1966
"Jervis Tetsch, aka the Mad Hatter, is abducting all the jurors who convicted him of a previous crime wave. He is also taking their hats. His final target is none other than Batman, who provided the key testimony in the Mad Hatter's trial. Batman and Robin have the Mad Hatter and his gang cornered but the criminal mastermind manages to encase the Caped Crusader in plaster of Paris." 
70 minutes

RD Wishes He Was Named "Jervis", like this week's villain. He is also back from vacation. He and family went to Galaxy's Edge at DisneyWorld and was lucky to ride the Rise of the Resistance. They also went to Universal which he likes more including his favorite the Spider-Man ride, and randomly talking about Orange Cassidy with Donkey and Fiona. While TNA was at Universal Vince went on the Spider-Man with Shane Douglas who also enjoyed it greatly.

Vince thanks supporters for their patience while host Channel Attitude was establishing its RSS feed. He has gone to his second disk in his set.

On an early morning in Gotham a chef is using mass quantities of flour. His huge hat is a tempting snatch for our villain, who uses a never failing mesmerizing beam in his top hat to also capture his target. Said kidnapping involves a blue van. He then steals a deerstalker style cap while his top hat plays a low-key lullaby as his theme.

Cut to Police HQ where only Gordon and O'Hara remain. (:11) Gordon: "At this rate, no hat in Gotham will be safe from Jervis Tetsch!" RD is so happy they also use his name. Vince is happy that Batman is needed because he was involved in jailing him last time rather than being called just because. "It was a sad day indeed when the word 'parole' was coined!" RD wonders how many trials Hatter had so far.

Vince wished he had written a subtle Batman series referencing character while in the industry. RD remembered when WCW UK used Batman style bubbles to cover the violence.

Hatter has with him his henchpeople Cappy and "Dizzer", which confuses Vince. It's actually Dicer, "a man’s hat, made of stiff silk or felt, not as tall as a top hat, but of similar shape (though the term is sometimes also applied to a derby)".

Bruce is currently using a marble bust to lecture Dick on "the pro-cess-eeze of sculpting a fascinating art to which I devoted many hours of study." RD is unsure if Aunt Harriet was wearing a bra or not while in a "quandry" over the "oolong tea or the pekoe" for some tea party. Sad News: RD hates tea. Alfred loudly tells Bruce it's the Batphone and the Duo have to leave for a "black-footed albatross at Sleighter's Slew." Robin: "And maybe a fork-tailed petrel." RD reads the characteristics of a petrel. He thinks they should have kept that for the Penguin. Vince thinks they will just reuse it.

The Duo meet at Police HQ. (:20) O'Hara: "Nobody's safe! He's stealing hats! WHERE WILL HE STOP?" Batman: "In a court of law where he's been stopped before?" RD wonders why they're forgetting the kidnappings. Batman: "Few men die of threats, Robin."

Gordon thanks Batman for his service. Batman: "Fighting crime deserves no gratitude. It's my fervent hope that warped minds such as his can be rehabilitated once and for all."

As the Duo leave O'Hara grabs a random phone to yell to "CLEAR ALL EXITS FOR THE BATMOBILE!" and then we see there's nobody there.

RD finds the Hatter's bright orange hair, swirly mustache, and painted bushy eyebrows amusing. He's there with his henchlady...LISA. (Actor Diane McBain would also appear in an Elvis movie in the same year.) Lisa is head over heels for Hatter, who aims to kidnap his trial jury and Batman (via his cowl) to re-trial himself while trying to get subtly handsy with her. 

Cappy and Dicer stand around asking about lunch for some reason, reminding RD of a shirt he saw while on vacation. Vince is reminded of when he got a luxurious three days off in WWF to take the family to Universal where a third of the people wore Austin 3:16 shirts. (:32)

RD is alarmed by Hatter's hat making torture device with flailing knives that can make "oatmeal mush". Hatter: "He could wind up a tassel on a tam o'shanter." Lisa: "Oh, you pixie!" RD gives her 8 Batpoles for her character more than her appearance (including hair) which would have earned her a 6 otherwise. Vince likes her perkiness but gives her a 7.5, thinking RD was too high. RD skips ahead to another lady, Babette, with the shortest skirt, to give her a "solid" 7. Vince gives her a 5 due to her nasally voice. RD thinks Vince wants to "hook up" with her now 85 year old actor (Sandra Wells).

Hatter also wants to sell his kidnapped jury for "all the president's hats". (To quote Top Hat, "follow the felt.")

The Duo are fashionably late to reach the 11th juror, Madame Magda of a hat shop, in time. "I'm sure the communists had something to do with this!" randomly says the shop's customer. (:40) Vince is alarmed that Lisa can pop up to give Batman a clue without his asking any questions (she is posing as Magda's employee). 

Meanwhile Warden Criton has a Batman statue/Batstatue up in the prison for some reason. Vince thinks it's for deterrence. RD disagrees. 

Back to the Batcave the Duo look at their giant "edge-lighted" map of the city to draw a hat and find their 12th juror. Robin: "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." Vince thinks he's speaking about gimmicks. 

Hatter goes to sculptor Octave Marbot and disguises himself as he with an exaggerated French accent. Despite the World's Greatest Detective having met him before, he goes along with it without attempting to apprehend him then and there. RD is alarmed that Hatter wants to see Robin so much in the dressing room where Octave is also. Hatter (to Lisa): "My expert mimicry and perfect French fooled them completely!"

Cue the worst fight scene so far with blown spots rampant. (:50) Hatter goes for his mesmerizer. Batman goes for his "anti-mesmerizing Batreflector" (a mirror) and accidently hits Robin with it. Hatter then gets Batman with a trash can to the back, sending him into some "super fast hardening plaster". Hatter: "Batman will be permanently plastered!" He then has his own little soliloquy about his hat torturer while Batman continues to get plastered. Vince wonders why he uses acid spray to make hats. 

Vince liked that they finally get a serious villain with a plausible plot of revenge. RD agrees, including "waggish" Lisa, even if he had to use dumb luck to get what he wanted. 

Vince gives himself applause for giving RD much material to write on. (:60) He has an issue with Tony Khan talking about ratings and audience numbers or something. RD agrees, just wanting to watch the wrestling.


  • Special Guest Villain: The Mad Hatter (David Wayne) 

  • Blue Van: 1

Episode 12: Holy Fiddling!: October 17, 2021

When the Rat's Away the Mice Will Play
February 17, 1966
"After escaping the Ridder's deathtrap, the Dynamic Duo lie low to discover the ultimate goal of the supervillain's crime wave."
48 minutes

RD is Less Cross-Eyed Than Batman. He also changed shirts in between recordings to a yellow Robin one. He responds to further Vince singing with once again showing erect Robin. 

As the erect Duo spin on their turbines Batman manages to somehow get a torch from his utility belt to burn through his bindings and short-circuit the power. The only thing Robin can do is vomit on his shirt. (:03) Batman responds by slapping him. RD is reminded of the similar gag from Airplane! I'm reminded of that one meme picture.

As they return to the Batcave we visit the environmentally conscious River Rats. Unfortunately for the Co-Bros Mousey is too short and big eyed and high pitched for their liking. Vince gives her 4 Batpoles. RD gives her a "courteous" 5.5. The two compare her to the earlier Molly. Vince: "I think she was looking for the rub." To be fair as RD points out, actress Susan Silo did make a successful pivot to voice acting and is still doing it today, even close to 80 years old! Sadly none of that work included anything Batman or DC related. Vince: "Interesting."

The Riddler cuts in another promo how he succeeded against Batman than the other villains, except for Zelda the Great of whom he's probably forgotten all about already. He has another riddle: "What is it that is coming but never arrives tomorrow?" RD answers with erect Robin. (:12) Then Riddler gets really close to the camera to show his skin pores. RD thinks they should rename the show The Riddler's Skin. Vince wants Robin's Foreskin. RD answers with erect Robin. 

Batman calls Gordon while he is dressing down King Boris to confirm that he is in fact alive, but to hide that from the general public. Vince wonders if a king ranks lower than a police commissioner in political hierarchies. That done, Boris goes to the Gotham City Museum of Fame where a miniature statue is being shown among other models. RD is 99% sure one of the busts being shown was the same one of the Joker. The River Rats watching on their TV boo a painting of the Duo except for Mousey. RD does his Mousey impression. 

Mousey is sent to blow up a police box to send a ransom letter to Gordon, which weren't really a thing in the US, blue secret time machine or otherwise. (:18) Vince wonders if they were a product of his time which according to him was a very confident 1940. He also wonders why they didn't just send the ransom to him personally. 

The ransom is for $1 million or a monument will be blown up. Batman tells him to go ahead despite Gordon's protests that it may be too late in the day to visit a bank branch. So Bruce comes to HQ to pay to "do my duty as a proud citizen of this fair community" as Gordon calls him the "unsung hero of this dark hour." Then a River Rat named Whitey cosplaying as a cross-eyed and pudgy Batman comes in through the window. Bruce cracks his hand through a hand-shake as they agree to speak somewhere with "no cops! Er, no police!" to hash out the money delivery at the museum. 

Vince notes Riddler putting himself over some more a la Tony Khan. RD demonstrates by kissing his hands like he did for some reason. 

Robin is on top of the Batcave's Atomic Pile ignoring Batman's command to "stop fiddling" with himself. RD knows to what Batman is referring to. Vince doesn't think Batman would have told him someone died on top of that. 

The latest riddle leads to the statue at the museum. For perhaps the only time that he makes the right choice, Gordon calls Batman to tell him there was a phony. RD wonders how he figured that out. Batman determines there will be a bombing at the museum. When the Riddler arrives he finds no bomb or money but a (solved) riddle, before the bomb in place of what would have been the money blows up. The Duo then burst through their painting, to RD's dismay at their disrespect. Vince found it funny that Robin kept the same pose of the painting. 

Cue fight scene with the Riddler and folks and stooge. (:31) During the combat Batman picks up and throws a guy 40 feet with a slide-whistle and ceiling wires. Robin is so proud of his super-kick he congratulates himself. Vince is unnerved by Mousey coming on to Batman too much, and so too is Batman. 

During Vince's honeymoon in California he was so excited when he saw Stately Wayne Manor during his tour. He is happy now too that Aunt Harriet is again without a bra as she goes with friends to the museum. Bruce has his business work to keep pretend busy with. Dick has his algebra homework to keep busy busy with. Bruce again hits him when he tries to leave it. 

The Bros compare this to the Riddler's last outing. (:36 - :43) RD liked the idea of turbines but they are now ruined due to erect Robin. While the henchmen were better, the girl was less so. So things were average for him, like it has been so far with the show. Hopefully next time with the Mad Hatter will be better. They are also hopeful the show will pick up.


  • Special Guest Villain: The Riddler [2] (Frank Gorshin) [2]
 
  • Brown Hornet Escapes: 1. Short-circuiting a turbine through a torch.

Episode 11: Holy Infernal!: October 10, 2021

A Riddle a Day Keeps the Riddler Away
February 16, 1966
"When a visiting King is accosted by the Riddler, the Dynamic Duo pursues his subsequent complex trail of riddles to try to stop him."
50 minutes

RD Is Less Excited than Robin. He's also not in his studio as he is on holiday. He still has his surfing Batman and Joker shirt on. 

Somebody told Vince to watch a reality show with Cody and Brandi Rhodes. He hopes they exaggerated their negative qualities to gain heat. So like just about any other reality show then?

Speaking of shows more real life, Vince complains of the show's repetitiveness so early on. Batman, not Cody. (:05) RD believes Gotham City's infamy of crime and danger is drawing in intrigued visitors, much like then New York City, and in this case with yet another dignitary of one King Boris of [insert European country here]. Upon landing he is instantly subject to roses exploding into riddles and the Riddler's laughter while his theme plays. RD wishes he had such technology for trick or treaters. RD's attempt at answering the riddle earns Vince's applause. 

Gordon has only O'Hara and one other unlucky cop to dress down as he is about to call Batman who he owes "a very great deal". (:10) Vince wonders why they even need police if the Dark Knight does all the work for them. RD has to explain to Vince what the word infernal means. Wait, wasn't he a writer? 

Batman can't answer the Batphone as Alfred is polishing the Batpoles without any euphemisms, so he has to "beckon him". Appearing Aunt Harriet makes Vince attempt to sing. RD is thankful this time she's wearing a bra without his wife also watching. (:13) Bruce and Dick are playing chess to determine if he will do his homework or go fishing instead. Why not do the homework while fishing? No wonder he's always just the sidekick.

The Dynamic Duo visit the police just for Gordon to tell them in person about the impossible to solve riddle and Gordon determining the Riddler's involvement with his "fancy footwork" once more. The Co-Bros laugh at the police's further inefficiency and that they should pay Batman for his time, billionaire or no.

The police discount his targeting a $25,000 chess tournament to determine he will instead hit the Miss Galaxy beauty pageant for its tiara, as judged by King Boris. Batman will allow him to steal a bugged fake one. The Co-Bros wonder how many bugs they have on hand. 

At the pageant RD disparages the attending last year's winner's appearance, who looks so average she doesn't even get a credit. Vince disparages this year's winner's appearance. "Manly," he handwrote. He later gives Joy Harmon as Julia Davis 1 Batpole. RD gives 1.5.

The Riddler appears from a trapdoor to steal the tiara and a kiss. Vince: "Are they going to cancel Frank Gorshin now, you think?" He then pops out of a manhole to taunt the Duo on their use of a bug and give a new riddle, which for some reason needs analyzing at the Batcave. Vince finds it amusing that they always keep running to the Batmobile no matter what. Batman also finds the time to explain the episode title to Robin, in that the Riddler always goes silent before he acts. 

At the Batcave they determine he will next hit the Mushroom Club (:25). Batman gets enraged for some reason when Robin wants to look up the location on the Batcomputer; they have the Yellow Pages for that! (Boy do I feel so old remembering those.) Vince agrees with Batman that they should just check "normally". 

Meanwhile the Riddler confers underground with the "River Rat Gang", of whom RD applauds their henchmen and rat-looking antics, and even their feeding habits (including the expected for cutting the cheese). Quote the Riddler: "I'm gonna deduct the cheese billed from the profits." RD's favorite, Whiskers, has actual whiskers stuck on his face. Vince wished they made their own appearance by themselves. The lady of the group, Mousey, has too much of a high pitched voice to their tastes.

The Gang acts undercover as King Boris is taken on a tour of a wine cellar while Whiskers takes the time to overact. The Duo find Boris who states he is fine just as the wine bottles start popping and he falls victim to a trapdoor. Even worse, they are distracted by more riddles to decipher at the Batcave, leading them to the Gotham City River and Power Plant. Vince wonders why the Riddler doesn't give them more misleading riddles to follow away from his actual acts. RD reminds him this is how villains act. 

Anyway, the Riddler cuts a promo. (:35) He goes against Mousey and her weird eyes and actions by stating to his "cherub" his ranking as the "king of crime". 

As he does so and the Duo climb up a wall, Robin worries about "diplomatic repercussions". Batman: "All visitors to these teeming shores are safe, be they peasant or king. It's the very essence of our democracy." Said king is subject to the Riddler's "genius stratagem" just because while a "lackey" offers cheese, before he lets him go.

Part of this stratagem has him catch the Duo in a net once again. (:40) Vince wonders why they are not used to such tactics by now. RD wonders if the villains ever discuss tactics when they are in prison together. The Duo are sprayed in "sticky stuff" while the Riddler cackles in delight. He then has the two's stunt doubles strapped to giant turbines, which is bad enough. They then zoom in to actual Robin fully erect, which is even worse. RD shows the screen capture to an incredulous Vince to see for himself, finding it "disturbing" that he can see what looks like the tip. Vince: "You can't replace yourself with Robin's wiener!" The non-erect Riddler further gloats they will spin to death before leaving with a riddle. 

For a change the Bros will record for next week after this, so RD has to get through his shilling quicker this time. (:47)


  • Special Guest Villain: The Riddler [2] (Frank Gorshin) [2]
 
  • Vince Time Outs: 1
  • Bugs: 1
  • Fact or Fiction: 1
  • I didn’t even know he was sick:  1. Frank Gorshin
  • Screen Shares: 1. RD

Episode 10: Holy Fishbowl!: October 3, 2021

A Death Worse Than Fate
February 10, 1966
"Told that her loot is genuine money after all, Zelda is forced to lure Batman and Robin into a possibly unsolvable deathtrap, with hitmen waiting outside to shoot them if they escape."
77 minutes

Holy 10th Show Batman!, RD self-titles. He has issue with the show Russo Swerving a next week appearance by the Joker when it will actually be the Riddler again. However it could actually be confirming his theory that they were shown out of order like a JMS show. 

RD: "Everybody hold your breath: Russo's gonna do research."

Aunt Harriet is still levitating and peddling for over half an hour above a fire while the narrator does a Fat Albert impression. (:04) For some reason Robin is by himself when he goes to Police HQ while they try to reach Bruce for his ransom. 

O'Hara: "I've called every rich man's club and eating place in Gotham City, and he's in none of them...I bet Mr. Wayne is on some yacht eating sherbet and changing his clothes!" 

The two wonder if that line was actually in the shooting script. RD is reminded of Jackie Gleason ad-libbing in Smokey and the Bandit. Vince also has Gleason as Ralph Kramden tattooed on his right arm.

Robin responds to this bad line by getting into a rage. Gordon has to control him by bad touch rubbing his shoulders. 

Thankfully Bruce enters before things can escalate further. Apparently there is to be a color notification on TV, interrupting regular black and white programming while Zelda is knitting. Vince's confusion with crochet angers RD. (:12) He is further disturbed by Gordon stealing all the good quality cameras for his debauchery. Vince is further disturbed by the first announcement of:

Gordon: "Hello criminals wherever you are out there! Do you hear me criminals? This is Police Commissioner Gordon!"
Bruce: "I'm Bruce Wayne."
Robin: "And I'm Robin, Batman's aide. I speak for Batman officially."

Cue further bad attempts by the three to reach the criminal underworld without shockingly being prank called for it before Zelda does. (:18) Gordon has a signed sealed and notarized note from the newspaper about the money actually being real using a red ribbon on a newspaper copy. Robin: "Come on, ya crook!"

Zelda drops off Harriet. RD notes his hatred towards Vince due to tracking her lack of bra every time he sees her. He is further confused by the Duo further drugging Harriet at the Batcave. Vince thinks it's to help her cycling fit. (:26) Alfred gives an excuse of being too engrossed watching the television. Vince thinks it's Playboy After Dark somehow showing or recorded in the daytime. RD thinks he was watching an infinity mirror of his boss. But he knows where Zelda is and Bruce knows who Zelda is. As they descend the Batpoles RD wonders how Robin could get changed so quickly. 

This is also Batman's first appearance halfway through the episode, by the way.

Robin doesn't know who it is out of the 27 women licensed to be magicians in the city. RD wants to watch them go through the licensing process. Robin figures out it's the one he saw on his birthday due to her straitjacket that braless Harriet was tied up in. (:32)

Baman goes to the bookstore to get trapped - again - while the villains plot to kill him - again - with mafia henchmen in sarcophagi with tiny guns, despite Zelda's second thoughts. Vince takes offense at his Italian heritage being attacked by them signing a contract with a "wink-wink syndicate". RD wonders if Mr. Freeze would have offended his German heritage. 

The villains check out things in a "secret control room" with periscopes. Vince saw a golden cat reminding him of Catwoman, reaffirming his theory of out of order releasing as they were scheduled and prepared. Batman enters the trap through a secret bookshelf toggle: "Bizarre! A play without actors!" Robin: "The script could be for us!" "One way to find out - let's step in the limelight!" "Holy fishbowl!"

As expected Zelda falls for the "handsome creatures...can I help being a woman?" (:41)

RD: "At this point it gets kinda wacky."

As Eivol gloats about his trap and Robin tries to humor him Batman forms a Joker smile: "WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA, GENIUS?" However his utility belt cannot stop the hydrogen gas "lighter than air", although it could be used on the electrified floor to cause an explosion...while they are inside of. RD is reminded of the Hindenburg. "It was a terrible plan that somehow worked." 

Vince is not reminded of Fat Albert since he never watched it. RD asks yours truly to now look for "Brown Hornet escapes", referencing its show within the show and later spinoff where its title character used equally implausible methods to escape.

This also solves the problem of the hiding henchmen (even with Zelda's shouted warning) by dodging them and having them shoot each other, though sadly there is no fight as Batman simply knocks Eivol down with a Batarang. Quote he: "Let's take them to the morgue." He also determines that Zelda's tears are real this time through smelling and licking them, or at least that's what RD might have seen in order to make sense of things. "Perhaps some other lifetime."

Sometime later Bruce meets Zelda at the Gotham State Penitentiary wearing a ridiculous black and white striped prison uniform with a tuna can style hat. (:51) He promises her a job as "Resident Lady Magician" at Wayne Corp after she is released for saving his life after she threatened it. She conjures for him a plastic flower to give to Batman as a trophy.

RD: "Why would anyone live in Gotham City?"

RD wonders what the point of her and her one-off appearance was compared to the rest of the villains, including King Tut. (:57) Even if she was trapped (no pun intended) by Eivol she could have asked one of the other 26 women licensed to be magicians in the city to help her out. Vince wonders if he was doing the same even to them.

Vince: "Let's do some plugs here." (:60)

He complements AEW on broadcasting on Friday nights, and their marketing, which surprises him. RD half-jokingly justifies his current demographic to explain that people may not watch so late and so long due to numerous reasons. He finds their close success after only two years of operation weird. Vince reminds him of the current state of Raw.

RD wrote about something related to Vince. Vince hates reading, despite having written two books. RD can accept his not reading The Death of WCW (yet) due to his personal involvement and chance it may upset him, even though he doesn't regret what he produced and recorded. They also remind of their apolitical natures. Vince wouldn't mind RD to list what he thought his three biggest blunders were so they can discuss them on their next Patreon argument.  


  • Special Guest Villain: Zelda The Great (Anne Baxter)

 

  • Brown Hornet Escapes: 1. Escaping an electrified trap by exploding hydrogen gas.