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, King Tut's henchmen accidentally swing a door open on Robin, dazing him. They bring him before King Tut, who orders him to be tied. Batman bursts onto the scene but is eventually subdued and placed in a sarcophagus, which is then placed in a pool of water while Robin watches.
In the next episode, Batman sends a message to Alfred, who rescues the Caped Crusader. Meanwhile, Robin is taken with a young heiress, where she is to marry Tut and where he is to be thrown in a vat of boiling oil.
King Tut's moll untie Robin and the young heiress, but their attempted escape is detected, and the trio are quickly subdued. Robin is carried and lifted above the vat of boiling oil, but Batman bursts onto the scene again, tosses a compound into the vat which quickly turns the boiling oil into foam rubber, onto which the Boy Wonder is tossed.
Favorite shots:
For fans of Robin peril, this is a wonderful pair of episodes.
In the first episode, Robin is left outside the locked warehouse door, trying to pull it open. King Tut's henchmen open the door on the Boy Wonder, to everyone's surprise but the audience's, rendering the young sidekick temporarily dazed, senseless, and confused. The henchmen bring Robin before King Tut, who orders him to be tied, which is how the Boy Wonder will remain for most of the rest of the episode.
The circumstances of Robin's capture certainly do not reflect well upon the young sidekick's common sense, toughness and crimefighting reputation. However, the Boy Wonder does get to spend a lot of time in bondage, watching Batman get defeated and placed in a pool of water inside a sarcophagus and watching King Tut plan for, transport, and prepare the young sidekick to be thrown into a vat of boiling oil. Meanwhile, the young heiress gets to see how helpless the colorful, athletic Boy Wonder is without the Caped Crusader as he is unable to prevent King Tut proceed with his evil plans. At one point, Robin admits to the heiress to thinking that his "goose is cooked".
An opportunity presents itself when King Tut's moll unties Robin and the young heiress in order to rid the latter from the nefarious monarch's life, cruelly confessing to the young sidekick that she is indifferent to the Boy Wonder's fate. Rather than arranging for the moll to distract the villains in order to cover their escape, Robin's lame plan is to quietly sneak away, hoping that their absence will remain undetected long enough. However, their attempted escape is detected, and Robin is quickly subdued, carried and lifted above the vat of boiling oil
Batman bursts onto the scene and tosses a compound into the vat which quickly turns the boiling oil into foam rubber, thereby rescuing the still untied Boy Wonder.
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:
