Robin the Boy Wonder is the eager, youthful sidekick of Batman, the Caped Crusader, the vigilante crime-fighting alias of millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne. Introduced in 1940 as orphaned acrobat Dick Grayson in the DC comic book series Batman, Robin was played by Burt Ward in the 1966 television series on ABC.
As played by Burt Ward, Robin has a cute, boyish face, clean-cut, brown hair, and a compact, athletic physique which fits perfectly with his character's acrobatic background. His colorful outfit, with his dark green mask, gloves, and booties, his bright, red shirt, his shiny, yellow cape, his tight, green panties, and his form-fitting, flesh-color leggings, certainly catches the audience's attention.
Due to his youth, inexperience, and smaller size, the Boy Wonder is clearly the weak link in the Dynamic Duo, which their opponents often seek to exploit. Robin is also cocky, enthusiastic, and overly eager to prove his independent crime-fighting abilities, especially to Batman. He is often in trouble and in need of rescue.
This week's villain is King Tut.
In the first episode, Batman hides Robin inside an Egyptian-style statue which King Tut used in a prior episode in order to issue cryptic prophecies to Gotham City and which the Caped Crusader correctly anticipates that the villain would want to steal. With the statue back in Tut's hideout, the Boy Wonder overhears the villain's plans, which he reports to Batman through a communicator. However, in a rush to update his partner, Robin accidentally drops the communicator, alerting Tut to his presence. Dragged from the statue, the Boy Wonder refuses to kneel to the villain, who responds by ordering that Robin be injected with a serum which would turn Batman's youthful sidekick into his mindless slave. Robin briefly escapes the grasps of Tut's henchmen, only to find himself cornered in front of a door to a strange room. With the henchman approaching with the serum, the Boy Wonder escapes into the room, where he almost falls into a pit of crocodiles. With the door closed behind him, Robin is standing on a plank over the crocodiles, and the plank is slowly receding.
In the next episode, Batman tracks Robin to the crocodile pit and rescues the Boy Wonder from an outside window.
Favorite shots:
For fans of Robin peril, this pair of episodes is one of the best.
As in "Riddler's False Notion" and "Cat and the Fiddle", it appears that sending Robin on a solo mission is failure waiting to happen.
In this case, Boy Wonder's espionage role begins promisingly, as none of King Tut's henchmen suspect the lean, compact, acrobatic sidekick of being inside the statue. However, his eagerness to update the Caped Crusader on King Tut's plan results in his dropping his communicator, which makes a loud thud, alerting the villains to his presence. Suddenly, the Boy Wonder's look of confidence shifts to one of impending doom, as he is trapped inside the statue in the middle of King Tut's hideout, waiting while the villains slowly figure out that they have a spy in their midst and close in on the young sidekick.
After being dragged from the statue, Robin refuses to kneel before King Tut, something which Batman had no trouble doing later in the second episode. However, the Boy Wonder gets a chance to escape as he manages to fight himself free. Pursued by the henchmen, Robin prances around King Tut's lair in his colorful costume, with his dark green booties, his bright, red shirt, his shiny, yellow cape, his tight, green panties, and his form-fitting, flesh-color leggings, looking for a way out, until he is cornered in front of a door to a strange room. Once again, the image of the Boy Wonder prancing around in his colorful costume shifts until he is cornered in front of a door as a henchman approaches with the serum which would turn Robin into a mindless slave.
As the henchman advances with the serum, Robin sees another opportunity to escape through the door to the strange room. However, the room consists of a pit of crocodiles, and the Boy Wonder almost falls into it. With the door closed behind him, Robin is standing on a plank over the crocodiles, and the plank is slowly receding. As he moves back towards the door, the Boy Wonder appears to regret his last choice, possibly even preferring to become King Tut's mindless slave over the prospect of being eaten by crocodiles. Personally, I would have loved to see Robin become King Tut's mindless slave. However, the villain cruelly closes and locks the door behind the Boy Wonder, presumably leaving Robin to his youthful fate.
Fortunately, in the next episode, Batman rescues Robin from being dropped into a trio of crocodiles.
Later in the second episode, Batman drinks lemonade containing the serum which turns the subject into a mindless slave. With the Caped Crusader dancing to King Tut's tune, Robin is quickly subdued by the the villain's henchmen. However, Batman had previously immunized himself to the effects of the serum with buttermilk and turns the tables on King Tut.
This blog is intended to promote the appreciation of Burt Ward's portrayal of Robin in the 1966 television series "Batman". You may purchase both episodes at the following link:
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