The 6 Craziest Moments from Batman ‘66

Every Batman fan in the world collectively yelled “Yes, finally!” when Warner Bros. recently announced that the camp-tastic 1960’s Batman series starring Adam West and Burt Ward would be coming to DVD in 2014. After years of rights battles over the series, this is an event some fans have literally been waiting all of their lives for and to celebrate this mind-bending, LSD trip of a show here are the 6 craziest moments from the absolutely insane, Batman ’66.

6. Robin Gets Eaten by a Giant Clam

We’re jumping right into the madness here, so grab a bat-belt and strap in as we learn all about Joker’s sidekick-eating clam.

In this brilliant episode the Joker has captured The Dynamic Duo but his henchwoman has fallen in love with Batman, because clearly he is an emotionally stable guy with absolutely no psychological issues whatsoever and would make a great boyfriend. Anyway, Joker does the logical thing and decides to kill them all by chaining them up in a water vat with a huge clam that is going to eat them, starting with Robin, who has the greatest look of terror on his face I’ve ever seen on anyone about to be eaten by a clam.

What I love most about the giant clam is that it’s never explained where the hell Joker got it from. It’s not part of his criminal plot, he never mentions stealing it, or growing it, or anything, it’s just kind of there, I can only imagine because the production company happened to own a giant prop clam and said “well, I think Burt Ward would fit inside that thing.”

The second best thing about the giant clam is the cliffhanger text at the end of the two-parter, which easily makes my top ten list of sentences I never thought I’d post pictures of:

Watch it below in all its glory.

5. Batman Levitates a Rope With Magic Words

What is one to do when trapped with Batgirl in an underground prison with a rope but no batarang? Use the old Indian rope trick of repeating “rope stay straight” over and over again until the rope ties itself around the grating so you can climb out, obviously. You had to even ask?

 

 

4. The Batusi

The Batusi started it all, all of this insanity. Introduced in the very first goddamn episode, Riddler’s henchwoman asks Batman to dance and clearly has no idea what she’s about to get herself into when he breaks this cape-waving, eye-hypnotizing gem out of nowhere.

You might be saying, well, nothing could be better than the original Batusi. But what if there was footage of Batman doing the Batusi while pretending to be hypnotized by King Tut? What if that eye feast existed? What would happen then? It would probably be embedded right here for you to watch.

 

 

3. Joker Escapes Prison Via Giant Spring

Sometimes it’s the simple gags that make the biggest Biff&Pow in Batman ’66 and this escape by Joker definitely qualifies. While locked up in Gotham Penitentiary Joker is allowed to play baseball as part of his rehabilitation. All right, that makes sense, but when was he allowed to dig up the baseball diamond, plant a giant coiled spring under the pitcher’s mound and set it to shoot him over the wall like a catapult during the middle of the game?

Call me crazy, but someone’s going to get fired over this, preferably also over a huge wall.

 

 

 

2. Surfing Batman

This episode has perhaps the greatest example of “things we can’t actually do but sure let’s make it a plot point” when Joker transfers a champion surfer’s surfing abilities into himself to win a big competition. Batman’s only chance of stopping him is to beat the Joker on the surf so he puts on a pair of snazzy swim trunks (over his costume obviously) and take to the waves for the greatest green screen event of our age.

 

1. The Entire Batman Movie

It’s impossible to pick just one moment of crazy from the indescribable Batman movie so let’s just go through them all. What do you want to see this, this movie has everything.

 

Are exploding plastic sharks your thing?

How about bat shark repellent handed over in the most roundabout way possible?

Or are you one of those people who just can’t get rid of a bomb even when you have over five minutes to get it away from the general populace?

If you were to ask me though, the greatest moment in the original Batman movie is almost never discussed, and that’s when Batman and Robin totally destroy the United Nations and then blatantly run away.

It starts when the bad guys use their dehydrating machine to turn all the United Nations Representatives into dust (equals profit somehow) and it gets crazy when all the remains get mixed together, with only Batman able to fix them. And fix them he does, he gets the dust separated and rehydrates all the representatives to perfect health … except their brains are all in the wrong bodies. What’s a crime fighter to do? Shrug and jump out the window with his trusty sidekick, his work here is done.

Agree with our picks? What are your favorite moments of Adam West’s Batman? Let us know in the comments.