Mystery Utility Belt Item In Joker Episode

[Lord Death Man]

We were watching the 1st season episode "The Joker Trumps An Ace". During the scene right after the credits in Commissioner Gordon's office where Batman and Robin are examining a gift box the Joker had sent, towards the end of the scene Batman has an odd item hanging from the right side of his utility belt. You can see it after they have deflated the 'Mahārāja balloon' and played the recorded message. While Batman is facing towards the left for most of the scene, towards the end he moves across the screen and pivots. There is a bluish-black oblong object hanging from the top of the right side of his utility belt down to about the bottom of his trunks.

It is not a part of his cape, a batarang, or part of the batshield or batknife (both of which were used earlier in the scene). I am thinking it might be the stethoscope he was using earlier to examine the bomb, and that he just hastily stuffed the top part of them into his belt. Since the batknife had also just been stuffed into the top part of the belt earlier (on the left side), that could be it, but since the TV in my American home is still analog we could not really get a clear view. Does anyone know what it was?

[Chuck Williams]

Looks like the sheath for the long dart used to pop the balloon. That's the side he got the dart from and where he goes to return it.

I noticed when he went to put the dart away, he just drops it. You can hear it hit the floor!

Alex pointed out Robins masterful," putting the Bat Shield away" move to me one day during a conversation. Frickin' hilarious!!!

[A. Pennyworth]

Screen Grab


Putting away the BAT SHIELD!

[BBvideo 425,350]http://youtu.be/veV0fe478t0[/BBvideo]

[Chuck Williams]

Thanks AP!!!

You're the best!

Chuck...

[Gleeps, it's Batman]

I noticed when he went to put the dart away, he just drops it. You can hear it hit the floor!

Alex pointed out Robins masterful," putting the Bat Shield away" move to me one day during a conversation. Frickin' hilarious!!!

LOL. Having only seen the episode once in the ME-TV run-through, I really appreciate this stuff being pointed out. What a riot. LOL

And thanks, A Pennyworth, for the video.

[bnkpro]

Burt was so smooth and natural with that movement!

[Lord Death Man]

Looks like the sheath for the long dart used to pop the balloon. That's the side he got the dart from and where he goes to return it.

I noticed when he went to put the dart away, he just drops it. You can hear it hit the floor!

Alex pointed out Robins masterful," putting the Bat Shield away" move to me one day during a conversation. Frickin' hilarious!!!

Thank you, Mr. Williams! And thanks to Mr. Pennyworth for posting the photos and video. That is indeed it. Watching the scene again, I could see the top of the dart sticking out of the sheath when Batman is cutting the box open. You can also see him take the sheath off the dart and put the sheath back on the belt. Interestingly, when Batman uses the dart in the follow-up episode to deflate the real 'Mahārāja', the sheath is nowhere to be seen.

This sequence must have set a record for most bat-gadgets dropped to the ground in one scene. Besides the Batshield and the dart, the stethoscope almost certainly is dropped to the floor when Batman pretends to replace it in his belt (but the sound has been dubbed over by the Joker's tape recorded message).

I guess they did not have a patch kit in the budget for the balloon to allow a second take so they had to use the first take of Robin's 'epic fail' storing the bat shield. I assume the Joker's box (and the deflating balloon) was supposed to mask the shield being dropped after being 'stored' inside Robin's cape, somewhat the reverse of when Batman produced it (of course, they could have done multiple retakes for him since the balloon hadn't emerged yet).

It was kind of neat how the exposure via dart of the Joker's masquerade was foreshadowed by Batman doing the same thing to the Mahārāja balloon. This was a really well written episode.

And while it was hard to be sure, it also appeared that the 'seam' on the cowl (caused by the 'helmet' inside) was in evidence in several scenes but not in others.