Sunday, November 28, 2021

Robin in Marsha Queen of Diamonds (11/23/1966) & Marsha's Scheme of Diamonds (11/24/1966)

 



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 Marsha Queen of Diamonds.  

In the first episode, during a fight, Marsha shoots Robin with a poisoned dart, which turns the Boy Wonder into her love slave.  With the youthful sidekick fighting for the villainess, Batman surrenders his arms.  Robin is taken away, and Marsha demands that the Caped Crusader marry her as her price for the Boy Wonder's release.

In the next episode, Aunt Harriet poses as Batman's wife in order to stop the Caped Crusader from marrying Marsha.  Then, Batman and Alfred rush to Marsha's lair and release Robin from his birdcage.

Favorite shots:




























For fans of Robin peril, this is definitely an excellent pair of episodes.

In the first episode, Robin is first hit by a poisoned dart and becomes Marsha's love slave.  Interestingly, Batman was also hit by a similar poisoned dart and managed to resist the effects of the potion.  In the Boy Wonder's defense, Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara also became Marsha's love slaves, and the Caped Crusader may have benefitted from the fact that his youthful sidekick's promptly removed the dart from his senior crimefighting partner's body, possibly minimizing its negative effects.

Robin then engages in a fencing match with Batman, which ends in the Caped Crusader's apparent victory when the senior crimefighter grabs the Boy Wonder's right wrist, thereby gaining control of his young sidekick's sword arm.  At this point, Batman was free to point the tip of his sword towards a vulnerable body part of his youthful partner in crimefighting.  However, Robin soon disguises his apparent defeat by grabbing the top of the Caped Crusader's blade, apparently gaining control of Batman's sword and causing a stalemate to occur.

Robin spends the rest of the episode looking like a smitten, lovestruck puppy until he is dismissed by the apathetic object of his affection.  As the grand mogul drags the Boy Wonder to the suitor's quarters, fans get a good shot of the rear of the young sidekick's green panties.

In the second episode, Robin lies unconscious in his cage in the suitor's quarters.  

Since Robin dropped the communicator in "Spell of Tut", alerting King Tut to his presence inside a statue and needing to be saved from a plank over a crocodile pit, Batman has kept the danger-prone Boy Wonder on a short leash.  However, producers managed to give Robin some quality time without Batman in this pair of episodes by shooting the Boy Wonder with a love dart, making him Marsha's temporary love slave, and putting the youthful sidekick in a cage.  

Fans may have appreciated more scenes in which a lovestruck Boy Wonder pathetically pleads for Marsha's attention from his cage, or jealously fighting other suitors, or performing other death-defying stunts in order to prove his love for Marsha.

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:


Previous blog:  

Robin in Impractical Joker (11/16/1966) & Joker's Provokers (11/17/1966)

Next blog:  Robin in Come Back Shame (11/30/1966) & It's How You Play the Game (12/1/1966)


Dorno in Endangered Species (10/3/1981)

 


Dorno is the son of Zandor, leader of the Herculoids, and his wife Tara, a family of three humans and their five very powerful pet creatures defending their jungle planet.  The Herculoids were the subjects of an American animated television series, which debuted in 1967 and was revived in 1981 on CBS and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions.

Dorno has a cute, boyish face, long, blond hair, and a slender, athletic physique.  His shirtless Herculoids outfit consists of a pair of brown boots, a light, blue skirt and neck collar, and a gold belt and wrist bands.  At his age, he is growing taller and more attractive and gaining better muscle definition and athletic ability.  He is also developing more self-esteem and self-confidence and taking more risks.

Due to his youth and his lack of special powers, Dorno is certainly one of the most vulnerable members of the Herculoids and is frequently a weak link which their opponents seek to target.

In this episode, Dorno and Zok team up with Astro and the Space Mutts to rescue Zandor, Tara, and Space Ace from a space zoo.  They travel to another planet where Astro and the Space Mutts pose as zoo customers, find Zandor, Tara, and Space Ace, and Dorno and Zok blast in for the rescue.  Fortunately, they live in a universe where the shirtless Herculoid boy can survive interplanetary travel on his space dragon.

Early in the episode, Zandor, Tara, and Dorno are playing in a swamp with Zok and Tundro until the parents are captured by a levitation beam.  Dorno escapes by submerging under water when Zandor and Tara are captured and manages to avoid another shot from the levitation beam.

Action scenes:








Favorite shot:  










Previous blog:  

Dorno in Energy Creature (10/3/1981)

Next blog:  Dorno in Snake Riders (10/10/1981)


This blog is intended to raise interest in the Herculoids and Dorno.  To view the entire episode, you may purchase the DVD at the following link:

https://www.amazon.com/Herculoids-Complete-2-Disc/dp/B00553KAK2/ref=sr_1_2?crid=A864MLT2E86B&dchild=1&keywords=herculoids+cartoon&qid=1612274032&sprefix=herculoids%2Cinstant-video%2C187&sr=8-2

 

Korak in Daily Tarzan (1/18/1971-1/23/1971)

 


Korak is the Honorable Jack Clayton, son of English Lord John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke, also known as Tarzan, lord of the jungle.  He is the hero of a 1915/6 magazine serial and 1917 novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs and a 1920 silent movie serial, as well as a character in several other Tarzan stories from 1914 to 1924.  He experienced a revival in 1964 as the star of his own comic book series and as a major character in various Tarzan comic books, pages, and strips from 1966 to 1978.

As depicted in the comic books, pages, and strips, Korak has a lean, athletic physique, broad shoulders and thin waist, almost no clothing, a cute, boyish face, and full, thick hair.  He is also an intelligent, enthusiastic teen-aged boy with excellent natural instincts and a good heart.

Korak strives to emulate his legendary father but lacks his strength, maturity and experience.  Therefore, he is both more likely to enter into dangerous situations and more vulnerable to being defeated.

Korak in Daily Tarzan (1/18/1971)

Korak in Daily Tarzan (1/19/1971)

Korak in Daily Tarzan (1/20/1971)

Korak in Daily Tarzan (1/21/1971)

Korak in Daily Tarzan (1/22/1971)

Korak in Daily Tarzan (1/23/1971)

As the star of his own comic book series in 1964, Korak is a capable, young hero.  His adventures were somewhat similar to those of his father Tarzan, but independent from them.  

In 1966, ABC released the TV series Batman, featuring the frequently imperiled youthful sidekick Robin the Boy Wonder.  As a fan of seeing cute, young sidekicks in trouble, I watched every episode.

Russ Manning took over the Daily Tarzan strips in 1967.  His Korak tended to have a tall, lean, swimmer's build.  While the son of Tarzan continued to have somewhat autonomous adventures, the slender, handsome youth seemed to be getting into trouble more frequently and more easily.  Moreover, in the Daily Tarzan strips, Korak tended to suffer from more frequent comparisons to his legendary father. 

Previous to this week's adventures, Tarzan, Jane, Korak, and Chulai leave Pal-ul-don with Ngala to return to modern Africa.  However, attempting to cross the desert using wind power, they are stranded when the wind dies.  While searching for help, Tarzan is captured by a column of ancient Egyptian soldiers, who utilize him to help them defeat barbarian invaders from Europe.  Meanwhile, the wind returns, and Korak, Jane, Chulai, and Ngala leave without him.  Having escaped the ancient Egyptians, Tarzan is rescued in the desert by Korak and Chulai and hears their adventures with Jane and Ngala.  

According to Tarzan's instructions, they leave without him when the wind returns.  However, they are spotted by an airplane, stopped by a column of motorized sand vehicles, and brought before Pasha Ronchi.
 
Korak continues his leading role this week.  The son of Tarzan fails to escape the bullets from the motorized sand vehicles and is responsible for their capture by the Bedu.

Manning's artwork is wonderful.  After the group's capture, the young, handsome son of Tarzan is brought before Pasha Ronchi as a prisoner.

Favorite scene:  1/21/1971, panel b


Previous blog:  Korak in Daily Tarzan (1/11/1971-1/16/1971)


This blog is intended to raise interest in and appreciation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs character Korak.  To see this story in context, you may find it in Hillman's ERBzine at the following link:


This week's adventures can also be found at the following link(s):

https://www.erbzine.com/mag29/2911.html
https://www.erbzine.com/mag29/2912.html
 

Sunday, November 21, 2021

Robin in Impractical Joker (11/16/1966) & Joker's Provokers (11/17/1966)

 



 

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 Joker.  

In the first episode, Batman and Robin fall through a trap door into a bin in the basement, where they are apparently separated to meet their different fates.  Batman is placed in a giant key cutter where the machinery will cut his body as if it were a giant key, while Robin is placed in a wax spray chamber where his pores will be filled with wax.

In the next episode, Batman places a metal object in the machinery of the giant key cutter, causing it to stop and eject the Caped Crusader, who then removes Robin from the wax spray chamber.

Favorite shots:
 








Episodes where the Dynamic Duo are to share the same fate tend to reveal a lack of imagination on the part of the villain.  In this episode, I credit the Joker for thinking up a different demise for Robin.