Sunday, December 26, 2021

Robin in Puzzles Are Coming (12/21/1966) & Duo Is Slumming (12/22/1966)

 



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 the Puzzler.  

In the first episode, the Puzzler tranquilizes Batman and then Robin with poisoned darts.  The Dynamic Duo are then placed in a basket of a giant balloon which is set to drop at a fatal altitude,





In the next episode, Robin calls a passing bird and persuades it to rip the fabric of the balloon, causing a steady loss of air and leading to a less sudden landing.

Favorite shots:






Each episode has its delicious Robin-peril moments.

In the first episode, one of the Puzzler's portly henchmen forces Robin down onto a crate and proceeds to torture the Boy Wonder by sitting and bouncing upon the young sidekick.  The helpless Robin is forced to cry for Batman to rescue him.

After Puzzler hits Batman with a poisoned dart, he hits Robin too, who goes down with a boyish yelp.

In the second episode, two of the Puzzler's henchmen try to shove Robin into a small jet engine.  While the engine is clearly too small for the Boy Wonder to fit in it, the henchmen appear to be having fun trying to force him in anyway.  Once again, Batman rescues the young sidekick.



Dorno in Magnus (10/17/1981)

 


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, Space Ghost and the Herculoids encounter a giant being with seemingly magical powers.  He grabs Jan, Dorno, and Blip and uses a wand to force them to perform a puppet show for him.  In response to a rescue attempt from Space Ghost and the Herculoids, he is able to summon a force field which traps his captives within it and protects him from attack.  However, Jan is able to kick him, causing him to start crying.  The giant turns out to be a mischievous toddler whose parents are thankful for the free babysitting services and leave with the child.

Once again, Jan and Dorno make an attractive team, with Jan proving herself to be the far more effective member.  Jan ends up rescuing the shirtless pretty boy.

Action shots:















Favorite shot:



















Monday, December 20, 2021

Robin in Cat's Meow (12/14/1966) & Bat's Kow Tow (12/15/1966)

 



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 Catwoman.  

In the first episode, while feigning submission, Catwoman extracts a sleeping drug from her compact and scratched Batman and Robin on the chest with it.  The Dynamic Duo find themselves in an echo chamber where the magnified sound of dripping water is intended to drive them insane.




In the next episode, the Dynamic Duo sings the precise note in order to shatter the glass of the chamber.

Favorite shots:




In these episodes, the favorite move for Catwoman's henchmen appears to be to grab the Boy Wonder's neck  and to start choking.

In the first episode, Robin is punched into a wall with a telephone and choked with the telephone wire until he is rescued by Batman.

In the second episode, the Boy Wonder is choked from behind with a towel and placed under a hair drier until he is rescued by Batman.

These are only brief instances of Robin peril and unaccompanied by the Boy Wonder's frequent cries for Batman's help.

At one point in the first episode, Catwoman proposes that her henchwoman Eenie pair up with Robin the Boy Wonder, which elicits facial expressions of apparent disgust from the girl.

Dorno in Buccaneer (10/17/1981)

 


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, the Buccaneer's attempt to dig for buried treasure in an inhabited, geologically sensitive area draws the protest of Zandor and the Herculoids.  In response, the Buccaneer captures Dorno and holds him hostage.  The Herculoids attack the ship, but Zandor is captured.  The Herculoids attack again, Zandor frees himself and Dorno, and the Buccanneer is defeated.

This episode appears to have been inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island and contains a lot of action scenes for Dorno.  He is chased by the Buccaneer, attempting to outrun their hovercraft on foot, and inevitably captured, while Tara observes helplessly.  He is relatively well treated and loosely guarded on the Buccaneer's spacecraft, but he attempts an unsuccessful escape while the Herculoids are attacking.  Zandor is captured and placed in a cell with Dorno, but they escape.

Action shots:






















Favorite shot:











Previous blog:  

Dorno in Olympians (10/10/1981)

Next blog:  Dorno in Magnus (10/17/1981)


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