Hi diddle riddle/Smack in the middle(episode talk)

[Jaws63]

This is what I wrote before:

ja_stilwell
Bat Neighbor
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I Love The 1966 Batman!



Hi diddle riddle
Feb 12th, 2008 at 8:25am

Ever so often I'm going to post my opinions on each episode, so....going in chronological order;

Hi diddle riddle I thought had a really good plot line, interesting though that this was the pilot ep. when Robin responds "Him again" over hearing the commissioner tell Batman he's up against the Riddler. It wasn't until I was an adult that I really appreciated this ep., especially when I realized that was Dozier that tries to seat Batman at the Gogo. As a kid watching this ep. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what Riddler and Molly were doing to Robin at the very end of this ep.......I thought they were trying to Squeeze his head until his eyes popped out.



(my second half didn't copy)My early reviews were very short, I seem to remember saying that I walked away feeling somewhat cheated as I sorta thought we might have gotten a courtroom scene. The overall flow was rather good, but put to sleep there for a few seconds by Batman casing Riddlers hide out, and the setting up the explosive. It was the explosion and Robin's "Holy Smoke" that woke me back up.

What's interesting is my first impression was these pair of episodes would be better off further in as opposed to being the pilot, because Riddler had Batman over a barrel right out of the gate. In my mind, this is actually "out of the ordinary" for a story arch compared to the others, the other "out of the ordinary" is the fact that the villain isn't caught at the ehd... strange choice of stories for the pilot. The only thing these episodes do have going for it(as a pilot) is the mention, however brief... was the murder of his parents and the use of the batsignal(used only a handful of times in the course of 120 episodes) towards the end of the second half. The death of Molly in the batcave was really the first and only time in the series where one of the main characters dies in a "permanent" way. I've come to realize though that the series is pretty much a continuation of the comic book stories, I think we are suppose to imagine stories prior to the pilot. My opinion on this has been swayed, this is as good as most other first season episodes....it might not seem like a "pilot" episode, but it works.

BTW I think we see another 'William Dozier" appearance in a later episode.

[AndyFish]

Nice comments.
Just for the record, that wasn't Dozier that offered Batman a table, but it was his voice-- dubbed in over the other actor's.

[Jim K, Bat fan]

Since Dozier's comment was brought up, I wanted to share something that falls into that category "Is it just me..." (and which I'm sure others will say - "Yes, it's just you..." )

It's the way he speaks the line "Ringside table Batman?" As a kid, I never understood that he was asking Batman if he wanted to sit close, at a RINGSIDE table like at a boxing match. I heard it back then (and still hear it to this day) as two words..."RING SIDE table, Batman?" Now, granted, that doesn't make sense...and it didn't back then. The only thing I could figure was he was asking Batman if he would like him to ring a bell, or ring for someone...like "shall I ring for Alfred to bring us tea?"

To my ears, the phrase should have the accent on ring (in RINGside), but I hear the accent on the second word (as ring SIDE.)

Since that quote appeared on the official soundtrack album and I could play it over and over only made it worse!

[AndyFish]

Because of the album that line is burned into my brain Jim.
I feel your pain and I agree-- it's never made sense.

[Jaws63]

Since Dozier's comment was brought up, I wanted to share something that falls into that category "Is it just me..." (and which I'm sure others will say - "Yes, it's just you..." )

It's the way he speaks the line "Ringside table Batman?" As a kid, I never understood that he was asking Batman if he wanted to sit close, at a RINGSIDE table like at a boxing match. I heard it back then (and still hear it to this day) as two words..."RING SIDE table, Batman?" Now, granted, that doesn't make sense...and it didn't back then. The only thing I could figure was he was asking Batman if he would like him to ring a bell, or ring for someone...like "shall I ring for Alfred to bring us tea?"

To my ears, the phrase should have the accent on ring (in RINGside), but I hear the accent on the second word (as ring SIDE.)

Since that quote appeared on the official soundtrack album and I could play it over and over only made it worse!

Are you sure he's saying Ring-side table? I thought he asked Batman for an "inside table" which would make sense...you can sit either inside or outside the bar. Batman even say's he prefers to stand at the bar.

Also, even if I'm wrong about that guy being WD himself, he's definitely an extra that was used again...I'll point it out when we get to that episode.

[AndyFish]

Not sure Inside Table makes any more sense to me. I didn't see any outside tables.
The script for the episode:

[Lou Szabo]

As a kid, I really liked these episodes for several reasons
1) they show Batman retrieving bat gadgets located in the utility belt. Most often he has the gadget in his hand (radio, cuffs, batarang, etc)
2) throwing the batarang with the rope. Most often we cut to them scaling a building.
3) respect for property and pedestrians

[artbat123]

Hi bat friends,

Look at the posters on the outside wall of Way Out A Go Go disco when Batman stumbles out in this episode. Do you see something from the second season! Holy discovery!

See you soon.