Smack in the Middle

Infobox Television episode | Title = Smack in the Middle


Series = Batman
Season = 1
Episode = 2
Airdate = January 13 1966 (ABC)
Production = 6028-Pt. 2
Writer = Lorenzo Semple Jr.
Director = Robert Butler
Guests = Michael Fox,
Jack Barry,
Ben Astar,
O'Flyn Damian,
Richard Reeves,
William Dozier,
Jill St. John,
Richard Reeves (uncredited)
Special Guest Villain: Frank Gorshin as The Riddler
Prev = Hi Diddle Riddle
Next = Fine Feathered Finks

"Smack in the Middle" is a first-season episode of "Batman". It first aired on ABC January 13, 1966 as the second episode of the series, and was repeated on August 25, 1966 and April 6, 1967.

Plot Synopsis

In The Batcave, Batman's attempts to contact his junior partner in crimefighting are met with futility; alerted by Alfred about Aunt Harriet's having a fit on noticing their beds were slept in, The Caped Crusader tells him to put her at ease by saying they're spending the night at Bruce's uncle's house. Meanwhile, The Riddler's "operation" on Robin involved only the making of plaster cast from Robin's masked face, used to make a perfect "Robin" mask for Molly. After enticing The Caped Crusader with a couple of riddles, The Prince Of Puzzlers and Molly (disguised as The Boy Wonder) lead Batman on a merry chase outside the abandoned turtle mill at Orleans Cove before their vehicle is disabled by The Batray. The Riddler makes his escape as Molly tricks The Batman into taking her into The Batcave. There, our keen-eyed hero spots the defect in the mask caused by the straws they gave Robin through which to breathe. An unmasked Molly, after making an unsuccessful attempt to shoot Batman, makes a break for it; The Caped Crusader chases her to the top of the atomic pile (used to power The Batmobile), where she slips and falls to her dastardly death!

The Caped Crusader rescues the true Boy Wonder, but that rapacious Riddler manages to escape to The Moldavian Pavilion, where a gathering will honor the famous Mammoth Of Moldavia, which is stuffed with used, yet priceless Moldavian postage stamps. The Riddler plans to steal The Mammoth, and so he drenches the pavilion with nitrous oxide, dresses in an outrageous costume and elephant mask (Holy John Merrick!) which conceals his protective gas mask, and entertains the guests with a few jokes until everyone has fallen unconscious from laughter. The Riddler and The Mole Hill Mob blast a hole through the floor and make ready to pilfer the priceless pachyderm when The Dynamic Duo leap out from inside the huge beast and subdue The Mob; whilst The Riddler runs for the rat hole and leaps into it. Batman leaps after him, and The Riddler shoots at him, misses, and hits a tank of noxious oxide causing it to explode, but not before Batman takes cover. The Riddler's body was never recovered, so it's assumable he will definitely live to plague Gotham City another day... but not if The Dynamic Duo can help it! (BTB, the lawsuit against Batman was thrown out of court, since The Riddler failed to show.)

Trivia

* William Dozier originally auditioned people to narrate the series, but when none of them seemed to fit, he decided do it himself.
* For the first two seasons, a tag preview of next week's villain followed every Part 2 episode, except the pilot.
* This is the first occurrence of the whole "Batman" TV series of a Batvillain escaping apprehension. {The only other Batvillians to escape apprehension was Catwoman twice-once by falling down a bottomless cavern #20 and once by falling off a warehouse roof into a River #75. In #20 a Catwoman henchman is knocked-out by Catwoman; yet when Batman and Robin passes the same place a few seconds later, he is gone!}
* Aunt Harriet speaks her first lines of dialogue on the series in this episode...in its final minutes.
* We learn here that Bruce Wayne has an uncle.
* Jill St. John (Molly) would go on to play the role of Tiffany Case in the James Bond movie "Diamonds Are Forever" (United Artists, 1971).
* The exterior shots of Wayne Manor were really filmed at 380 South San Rafel Ave, Pasedena, CA.
* The original script had a grimmer Batman, who "allowed" Molly to fall to her death. DC Comics rejected the scene and it was shot with Batman desperately trying to save Molly.
* The scene of The Batmobile leaving The Batcave to race the remaining fourteen miles to Gotham was really filmed at Bronson Cavern in Hollywood Hills. This cave was used in many horror films including "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (Allied Artists, 1956). The problem they ran into when filming the scene was that The Batmobile was just about the same width as the cave entrance. To keep from ripping the fenders off George Barris' creation, they undercranked the cameras so it could come out slowly and then later speed up the film to give the illusion of speed!
* In all the scenes of the villains hideouts, the camera is slanted at an angle, almost "crooked"--to reflect the villains' being crooked themselves!
* The Batmobile's ever-popular Emergency Bat-Turn Lever is put into use for the first time in this episode.
* For the 1966 Emmys, "Batman" was nominated as Outstanding Comedy Series while Frank Gorshin was nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Comedy ("Hi Diddle Riddle"). A third nomination was made for editing.
* Lyle Waggoner was originally cast as Batman and filmed for a test reel. Waggoner later on played Major Steve Leonard Trevor on "Wonder Woman".
* This is one of two episodes of Batman in which characters lose their life; the second is Episode #8705-Pt. 2, A Death Worse Than Fate, wherein the gunmen, intending to drill Batman and Robin full of bullets, shoot each other to death as the Dynamic Duo dodge them, aided by Zelda The Great (Anne Baxter).
* The Riddler's maniacal high-pitched giggle was inspired by the character Tommy Udo (portrayed by Richard Widmark) in the 1947 20th Century-Fox crime film-noir "Kiss of Death".