The Penguin Declines

Infobox Television episode | Title = The Penguin Declines


Series = Batman
Season = 2
Episode = 73
Airdate = January 18, 1967 (ABC)
Production = 9733-Pt. 3
Writer = Teleplay by Stephen Kandel and Stanford Sherman, based on a story by Stephen Kandel
Director = Oscar Rudolph
Guests = Charles Picerni
Terry Moore
Hal Baylor
Joe Di Reda
Eddie Saenz
Dick Crockett
Louis Cordova
Vincent Barbi
Rob Reiner
Special Guest Villain: Cesar Romero as The Joker
Extra Special Guest Villain: Burgess Meredith as The Penguin
Prev = The Joker's Hard Times
Next = That Darn Catwoman

"The Penguin Declines" is episode #73 of "Batman", the conclusion of a three-part story in its second season on ABC. Its original telecast occurred on January 18, 1967 with a rerun June 21, 1967. It guest-starred Cesar Romero as Joker and Burgess Meredith as Penguin.

Plot Synopsis

Using every ounce of his superhuman Batstrength, Batman bursts free of his chains, rushes over to the clam and pries it open long enough to rescue Robin from the maw of the menacing mollusk! Freeing Venus, the trio make their escape, while Joker, needing more assistance with his remaining 2 Zodiac Crimes, has his flunkies Uranus and Mars smuggle Penguin out of prison in a prison laundry truck by way of Operation Laundry Bag. (Serious dissension soon builds between the two superfoes.)

Using a mixture of his own insidious creation, Jokerjelly (concentrated strawberry gelatin which resembles strawberry jelly, but tastes like strawberry axle grease!), Joker and crew goes to The Gotham City Reservoir, sabotages the entire Gotham City water supply (Aquarius The Water-Bearer!), and then demands $10 million to ransom it back! Meanwhile, The Penguin, claiming he has reformed, tries to woo Venus (who's staying at Bruce Wayne's midtown apartment) into asking Batman to let her visit the Batcave, so she can remove Penguin's criminal record from The Batcomputer for him.

The Dynamic Duo fly out to the Jokerjelly-infested Gotham City Reservoir by Batcopter and restore the water supply with the trusty aid of a Special Exploding Batarang and The Portable Batlab. Returning to the city, Batman and Robin pay a visit to Venus, who, falling for Penguin's fib about going straight, she convinces Batman into taking her to The Batcave. Hoping to make Batman the goat (Capricorn!!!), Penguin, Joker, and henchmen Mercury, Mars, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus secretly stow away in The Batmobile's trunk.

The Duo returns to The Batcave with Venus (having doused her with Batgas, naturally!), and there the crooks pop right out, ready for doing away with Batman and Robin, and converting The Batcave into the headquarters of Gotham City's criminals! But The Caped Crusader stops them by activating his newly designed Batspectrograph Criminal Analyzer, which recorded Joker and Penguin's bone structure, metabolism rate, molecular blood structure, retina patterns, and other invaluable scientific data (he knew of their hiding in the trunk all along, and so he brought them both to The Batcave in order to utilize The Analyzer which only works at close range and is too large to move). Penguin tries to liquidate The Duo with his deadly Umbrella Gun, but The Batprobe Negative Ion Attractor, which Batman strategically installed in The Batmobile's trunk, depleted its power source during the time they were inside.

After a fierce fight, the whole gang is captured and ready to be delivered to prison. Furthermore, when the villains threaten to reveal the location of the Batcave, which obviously would betray the Duo's secret identities, Batman reminds them to their profound chagrin that they've seen only the cave's interior and not its exterior so they have no idea of its location. While the villains accuse each other for forgetting to look out of the trunk during the trip, Batman reveals to his friends that he locked the trunk hatch while they were inside so they never would have been able to open in transit anyway. He then gives the Penguin and Joker a taste of their own medicine - by putting them under with a whiff of Batgas!

Later at Wayne Manor, Dick Grayson cringes as he learns from Aunt Harriet that the main course for dinner is clam chowder, but his guardian Bruce Wayne assures him it's his chance to get even!

TOMORROW:

The Cat-astrophic return of Julie Newmar as The Catwoman!

Trivia

* Rob Reiner (Delivery Boy) later gained fame as Meathead on "All in the Family" (CBS, 1971-79).
* Robin notes that he and Batman (with Alfred's help) were able to foil Joker's previous plan to heist Gotham City's water supply. This is an allusion to the episode, "The Joker's Provokers," earlier in Season 2, when Joker placed a hallucinogen in the water supply during his time-altering scheme.