Surf's Up Episode

[Yellow Oval]

So I was watching it again last night being inspired by my surfer Batman figure. The awesome points: First up - Undine ROCKS!!!! Second - We get to see the Jokermobile again. Third - 'Fuzzy' and 'Duke' - enough said! Fourth - Hot Dog walkie-talkies - what a novel idea!

Now, is it just me or does anyone find that the surfing lingo in the script went "overboard" (yeah - go ahead and groan on that one )? I just have a hard time believing Barbara Gordon was suddenly so hip and knowledgeable. True, it's all in fun, but something about it just doesn't fit like they were trying too hard or something. That and Joker's plan to rule the world by becoming the world's surfing king? Whaa..?

It also struck me watching Johnny Green and the Green Men play that Marilyn Winters looked like she was struggling to stay in rhythm. The look on her face looked a little exasperated. I also just found out that apparently Johnny Green was the one who taught Gene Simmons of KISS to breathe fire!
http://www.johnnygreenandthegreenmen.8m.com/photo.html

As Johnny Carson used to say to Ed McMahon - "Did you know that, Ed? I did not know that!"

Comic fiction or not - I just can't get past Batman and Robin becoming surfboards. I can't...

At the end when they're all wondering where Batgirl went Barbara says - "I just passed her in the changing room." Did I miss something? Is there a backdoor exit? Why not just wait for the next woman to come out and see who she is?

Lastly, maybe Scott can confirm this, but in the first Batcopter shot in the background it looks like they're passing the beach where the archeological beach scenes at the end of Planet of the Apes were filmed on.

I love the episode - always have, always will, but the script really needed some work.

[RuxieCat121]

The show was always corny/campy. I just chalk those overdone bits to be in the fun of the corniness. A lot of the episodes are like that, at least for me. Sense somewhat has to be taken out of watching episodes to enjoy them. Know what I mean? Just my opinion on it.

And as for Gene Simmons, as far as I always knew, it's actually Amazo the Magician who taught him how to breathe fire.

~Heather

[Bob]

Even as a kid this was one of the few episodes I turned off


I was too into the New York Dolls to ever like Kiss

[sullydude]

What is funny is that this beach in Los Angeles is known as both Burnout Beach and RAT beach RAT for Redondo And Torrance Beach and is just north of what is called Palos Verde Peninsula, which I believe is what is seen in the background of the Batcopter show from the movie.
I grew up in what was called the South Bay of LA which was Manhattan Beach, HERMOSA beach, redo do beach and Torrance. Still live there too, and every time this episode is on, I watch and remember. Burnout beach still looks a lot like that it did in the 60s but with a lot more beach front property that is way more expensive than it was when joker and batman filmed there.
Haha!

[BatMite]

Johnny Green has a history of making outlandish claims but offering zero evidence. His biography is full of similar stories...so much so that it's an embarrassing read.

[John Mack]

I believe it's "Buzzy" and "Duke." And what is meant by "undine?" The only reference I can find for this is:

Undines (Latin: Unda—a wave), also called ondines, are elementals, enumerated as the water elementals in works of alchemy by Paracelsus.[1] They also appear in European folklore as fairy-like creatures; the name may be used interchangeably with those of other water spirits.[2] Undines are said to be able to gain a soul by marrying a man and bearing his child.[3] The German folktale of Ondine, a water nymph who curses her unfaithful husband to cease breathing if he should ever fall asleep again, is the basis for "Ondine's Curse," the historical term for congenital central hypoventilation syndrome, in which the afflicted lose autonomic control over breathing, placing them at greatest risk when they are asleep.

John

[Dr. Shimel]

And what is meant by "undine?"
John

Undine was in reference to the character so named and played by the lovely Sivi Aberg, who was making her second appearance as a villain's moll. She had previously been one of Chandell/Harry's girls in the Liberace episodes.

Skip Ward, who played one of Joker's henchmen, Riptide, had a little more prestigious role a few months earlier. He played the reporter whose article tipped off Lt. Gerard and brought him to Los Angeles, where he arrested Richard Kimble to set up the final episode of The Fugitive.

[Aussie Batfan]

Surely another odd aspect of this episode is the fact that it was filmed at all!
By that I mean the expense of doing an exterior shoot in the middle of the notorious Season 3 cutbacks.
Maybe Mother Nature was a cheaper option than putting together another set in the studio!!
Cheers,
Terry

[NJ_Batfan]

And what is meant by "undine?"
John

Undine was in reference to the character so named and played by the lovely Sivi Aberg, who was making her second appearance as a villain's moll. She had previously been one of Chandell/Harry's girls in the Liberace episodes.

Skip Ward, who played one of Joker's henchmen, Riptide, had a little more prestigious role a few months earlier. He played the reporter whose article tipped off Lt. Gerard and brought him to Los Angeles, where he arrested Richard Kimble to set up the final episode of The Fugitive.

Skip Ward almost had a more prestigious role. He was one of Bill Dozier's early choices to play the Green Hornet, but creator George W. Trendle thought that Ward looked too young to play an authoritative newspaper publisher.

[High C]

twof's Batgirl Bat-Trap site has an article about the changes from the original script of this episode to the finished product, and there was a reference in it by Barbara Gordon to Undine's name and what it meant:

http://batgirlbat-trap.com/omake/surf.html

The whole thing makes interesting reading. As I've discovered myself with the Siren episodes, it's fascinating,and sometimes, frustrating, to see what gets cut out of the final version.

[Dr. Shimel]

And what is meant by "undine?"
John

Undine was in reference to the character so named and played by the lovely Sivi Aberg, who was making her second appearance as a villain's moll. She had previously been one of Chandell/Harry's girls in the Liberace episodes.

Skip Ward, who played one of Joker's henchmen, Riptide, had a little more prestigious role a few months earlier. He played the reporter whose article tipped off Lt. Gerard and brought him to Los Angeles, where he arrested Richard Kimble to set up the final episode of The Fugitive.

Skip Ward almost had a more prestigious role. He was one of Bill Dozier's early choices to play the Green Hornet, but creator George W. Trendle thought that Ward looked too young to play an authoritative newspaper publisher.

Which is odd because Ward was roughly 18 months OLDER than Van Williams. Sadly, Ward passed away 10 years ago.

[LittleLouisGroovy]

Skip Ward, billed as James Ward, appeared in the Howard Hawks film, RED LINE 7000 (1965), which also featured Marianna Hill (Cleo Patrick) and Gail Hire (Miss Bacon). All three of them appear together in at least two scenes. Teri Garr also appears in the film as a singing and dancing waitress.

[chrisbcritter]

I wonder if this episode would have worked better as a two-parter, (part 1 "Surf's Up"/part 2, "Joker's Under") with the human surfboards part as the cliffhanger? Watching it now, it seems pretty chopped up, and the page on the Batgirl link shows that a lot was cut from the script... Also with the surfboard goo and the salt-water immersion, they probably wrote off two more Batsuits .

[High C]

I wonder if this episode would have worked better as a two-parter, (part 1 "Surf's Up"/part 2, "Joker's Under") with the human surfboards part as the cliffhanger? Watching it now, it seems pretty chopped up, and the page on the Batgirl link shows that a lot was cut from the script... Also with the surfboard goo and the salt-water immersion, they probably wrote off two more Batsuits .

I would agree and add that many third-season eps could've worked better as 2-parters. They consistently jammed too much into a half-hour in S3.

[clavierankh]

Agreed. There was really no end game for Joker in taking the surfing championship. For comparison, imagine if Joker goes to school was a one parter. It would have just been about Joker trying to recruit high school students. We could have lost the Susie subplot and the end game of Joker trying to ix the basketball game.