Times when the Dynamic Duo were stupid

[Pengy]

I was watching the Black Widow episodes earlier today, and one scene struck me as having really stupid behavior on the Dynamic Duo's part, specifically Robin's. It's the scene in the bank where Batman and Robin first confront Black Widow.

She sprays Batman with her can of paralyzing spider venom. Ok that's great, Batman is incapacitated. But Robin has not been harmed at all. He stands there like an idiot doing nothing while Black Widow just walks out of the bank, even stopping to say a mocking goodbye to them before she leaves. I was wondering why the hell Robin just let her escape. She's hardly a physical threat he can't subdue and arrest. There's no danger to the bystanders in the bank if he tries to stop her.

Really stupid, Boy Wonder! Batman should have reprimanded him for that.

Can anyone else think of other instances where the Dynamic Duo acted foolishly?

[AndyFish]

This behavior gets more prominent with the second season.
It's just another case of bad writing- or writers not getting what made Batman work in those first few episodes.
Most of the cringe-worthy or unwatchable third season episodes have something akin to mind numbing actions on the part of the duo.

But if we want to be fair, the pilot has Batman a little dense at times, I think the initial thought may have been that Robin was the brains-- Robin has to explain the Cigarette lighter riddle, the choo choo riddle. Both times the line is delivered like "C'mon Batman, use your head!"

I am glad that was abandoned.

And there's a difference in the comedic tone. I don't know why idiotic behavior bothers me but something like the absolutely ridiculous running style of Batman and Robin in the episode where Tut is tunneling into the Batcave makes me chuckle.

I often wonder sometimes if Adam really did get what made Batman work, because despite his repeated lines that he knew he had to play the character very straight, he often allowed the character to devolve into comedy. I suspect he was just tired of playing the role. They'd had very little breaks, and he was looking forward to re-starting his serious career.

[dell]

Stupid is a bit strong. I always thought that Robin solving the riddles was a way to involve him in the story. In many episodes he just stands there and watches the adults discuss things.

It can be a slippery slope to say they did this and I thought it was stupid. The whole premise of the show is bizarre if you take a step back and look at it. If you walked into your local police station dressed in an outrageous costume and say you wanted to help them fight crime, do you think they would swear you in as a duly deputized officer of the law, or do you think they would reserve a room for you and put you under observation for 72 hours? And criminals in fantastic costumes? And all the criminals using Rube Goldberg traps to try to eliminate the heroes?

I agree that the writing can be pretty sloppy at times, but other times it’s very well done. I prefer to just enjoy the good stuff and ignore the things that weren’t done so well. They cranked the show’s out pretty fast, so one has to expect some things that were done very well. And this was in an era where they didn’t expect people to super analyze everything in the show. I think having a two part episode was actually pretty revolutionary for the time. The conventional thinking was that you didn’t want to make your audience think too much as this was supposed to be entertainment.

[Dr. Shimel]

*Robin casually trying to grab the contaminated cowl, which allowed the Mad Hatter's goons to throw the Duo in the Fluoroscope.

*Batman and Robin deciding to shake the Joker's hand in the Catwoman (Eartha Kitt) teamup, never mind that they had dealt with him countless other times and escaped death on numerous occasions.

[Commodore Schmidlapp]

I'd say every time one of them said to the other "This might be a trap," and then they proceeded to walk right into - the trap.

Kidding aside, there are some that are more stupid than others, such as the obvious ploys to separate them they fell for (Hi Diddle Riddle, Death in Slow Motion, Londinium Larcenies) and not so obvious ones (Bookworm).

I agree with Dell that the writing can be sloppy at times, but likewise, it doesn't really bother me.

Compare it to Charlie's Angels, which whether they ever admitted it or not I don't know, definitely had elements of camp to it (though obviously not on the scale of Batman). There are some episodes that their detective skills (i.e. the writing) is so sloppy it's hard to take.

What private eye shows up on a case using her real name and announces to would-be suspects they were there investigating?

In the pre-internet days so-called 'jiggle TV' delivered easy ratings (though in hindsight, there's not nearly as much jiggle as some say, but that's another discussion). Some of the sloppy writing in that is really sloppy.

[Mr. Deathtrap]

Doctor Shimel wrote:


*Batman and Robin deciding to shake the Joker's hand in the Catwoman (Eartha Kitt) teamup, never mind that they had dealt with him countless other times and escaped death on numerous occasions.

This was the instance of Bat-stupidity that leapt to my mind. To be fair though, Robin was very hesitant. He only agreed to shake Joker's hand after Batman talked him into doing so. Seconds later, both are twitching on the floor while the villains leave, explaining they have only minutes to live before their senses cease to function and their lungs collapse. In fact, if Batgirl had not arrived and saved them . . . .

Mr. Deathtrap

[Progress Pigment]

No, often the term stupid isn't strong enough. Stupid started in earnest in "Cat & The Fiddle", the 2nd episode of season 2, when Batman & Robin let Catwoman and her idiotic leering thugs walk right up behind them, and then got tossed out the window! In that moment Batman was no longer feared as he had been in season one, he became a dangerous idiot who beat the villains mostly by dumb luck. Nobody could equal Stanley Ralph Ross when it came to sacrificing the lead characters of a hit series for a cheap laugh. There are countless other examples. Batman shaking the Joker's hand in season three was another low-point. Batman became a full out half-wit by Batman's final season. You could often tell Adam was trying to be creative with the inferior writing he was given, but it was absolutely impossible. Look at this Newsweek piece from when the show was cancelled.

http://clickamericana.com/eras/1960s/ba ... elled-1968

He’s bungling, awkward, even stupid. Corseted in baggy tights with blue satin jockey shorts, he bears only mocking resemblance to the comic-book prototype.

If the show had ended after the first season, with maybe a few 2nd season episodes (Green Ice, The Minstrel, Clock King!) thrown in, you'd never have seen a eulogy like that for what had started out as a groundbreaking series.

[Larry A.]

Gentle Folk, Gentle Folk, This poor writing goes back, like so much of the TV series to the 1943 Serial. If one watches carefully and I believe that Our resident Serial Expert Andy Fish will back me up on this, look at how many times Robin has to save Bat Man from trouble. Or how about Bats being basically thrown out the window of a tall building in the Serial?
Andy, would You mind weighing in again on this, please? Your further thoughts would be greatly appreciated as regards similarity in style between the Serials and Series.

Thanks in advance,

[Batman65]

Pretty much all of S3 qualifies here.

[Larry A.]

Too true, too true, my Friend.

[Bat-Tiger]

Standing still for the alvino Ray gun comes to mind.

[Larry A.]

Good point, Tiger! I'd forgotten about that.

[1966BatGirl]

One stupid moment comes to mind for me in the Batman 1966 movie where batman is running around endlessly holding the bomb trying to find somewhere to dump it and keeps running into people that it would blow up, the scene is funny per say, but it is too drawn out to the point of being stupid I think. It feels like he is running around with the bomb for like 2 minutes.

[Bat-Tiger]

Here's another one I thought of this morning. In "Hot Off The Griddle" Catwoman tells them not to bother with any gadgets because the glass was bulletproof. They just take her word for it.

If you remember in a previous episode, Batman had wall climbing gear they could have used to stay off the floor until they figured a way out.

[Larry A.]

Hey Tiger,
There is a technical term for that last item You mention. It's called "Lack of Continuity"!!!!!!