TO THE BATPOLES #215: Women in Season 3, pt. 1: Villains (and heroes!) approach gender parity

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One of the most striking things — in a good way, for once! — about Batman’s third season is the number of villains who are women. Also, of course, this is the season of Batgirl, who is more aggressively “feminized” than any other woman on the show, perhaps because she’s doing “a man’s job.” This time we begin a look at how the show presents women in season three by looking at the season's first five episodes, and we’re joined again by novelist Nancy Northcott.

PLUS: What if King Crimson performed the Batman theme? A Batman writer turns out to be a war hero! And, Bat Audio from another Batman reunion in 1989.

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[BATWINGED HORNET]

Nancy and the Guys: the business about the apartment key was simply a common cultural trope used regularly on TV series and in movies, where the house key would be hidden in a potted planter, under a door mat, behind a loose brick, in a space above the door frame, etc. So, in acknowledging how common this trope had been, I do not believe it shines a negative light on Gordon.

About double beds on TV: The Munsters (CBS, 1964-66) and Bewitched (ABC, 1964-72) were among the early series to feature a single bed for married couples.

Paul, you critiqued Ethel Merman's style of performance as Lola, but I believe you must remember that the choice of Old Hollywood performers as guest villains may have been appealing to Dozier, but something tells me that most of said performers were ill-prepared to understand the villain as being more than just a mustache twirling type in the Snidely (Dudley Do-Right) Whiplash tradition. I'm not sure if they were coached to emote in such a broad, big manner, but too many Batman villains--especially the made-for-TV characters--were performed with the actors placing their feet on the gas pedal of the OverTheTopMobile, leading to villains that were not even as menacing as something you'd see in a Mighty Mouse cartoon.