Episodes 63 & 64: The Cat's Meow/The Bat's Kow Tow

Season 2 Episodes 63 & 64

Original Air Dates: 12/14/66 & 12/15/66

Special Guest Villainess: Julie Newmar as Catwoman

Guest stars: Chad & Jeremy, Joe Flynn

Written by: Stanley Ralph Ross

Directed by: James B. Clark

The Catwoman has invented a unique new weapon that can steal the voices from anyone it's aimed at. Her goal is to steal the "singing" voices of Chad & Jeremy, over from England for a concert in Gotham. Can the Dynamic Duo stop Catwoman before she creates another international incident or will fifty screaming fans have to do without?

PE: When questioned, not one witness could remember seeing a woman dressed in a cat suit entering or exiting The Harry Upps soundstage. I'm sure at some point in the series (Season 3?) we'll see Batman visiting an optometrist about that peripheral vision. Sure looked to me as if Catwoman was right there in full view of the Dynamic Duo.


JS: Interesting. I find it hard to see anything but the Catwoman when she's around.

PE: LOL-scene: I'm not sure if this was a blooper or not. When Harry Upps loses his voice, Dick tells Bruce that they should go get changed into something more comfortable. Bruce, covering his mike, says we need to be careful about what we say. Dick, having no part of that, keeps chattering away about Batcave location, what a knob that Chief O'Hara is, and why can't he drink if he risks his life daily. Bruce finally takes the initiative and covers his youthful ward's mike for him. Or was it Adam covering for Burt?

JS: Let the record reflect that no one pays any attention to what Dick says.

PE: Maybe Gordon's tired of bikini-clad chicks after all when he takes a long look at Batman as the Caped Crusader leaves his office and sighs "What a man!"


JS: He was just trying to make O'Hara jealous.

PE: Then again maybe not, if the cozy scene with Catwoman in his office is a telltale sign. Let's see, Riddler, Joker, and Penguin all in jail but, according to Batman, it's going to be one of his major enemies. In comes Catwoman to the Commissioner's office. Could it be her? Not according to Gotham's Goofiest, O'Hara and Gordon: "There is a reformed woman." 


JS: And that pushed O'Hara over the edge. Just look at his face when Catwoman flirts with the Commissioner...

PE: Someone's stealing voices and Catwoman wants to know where Chad and Jeremy are staying in Gotham. No problem, says Gordon, and he tells her!


JS: Yes, but didn't Chad & Jeremy just steal their voices from The Beatles?

PE: What the heck is Bruce Wayne doing to that skull in his den? 


JS: I'm tempted to offer up any number of inappropriate double entendrés (instead I'll leave that to our readers in their comments), but the fact he was using a compass on it made the scene particularly creepy.

PE: Some detective Batman is. Ms. Klutz (aka Catwoman) calls Dick to set up a free dance lesson and doesn't even ask where he lives. She just shows up. No one thinks to ask how she knew?

JS: Not after Bruce made such a case for the importance of Dick not being a wallflower.


PE: Batman: The TV Series climbs three steps up the nerd-ladder by featuring Chad and Jeremy who, by 1966, had done about all they were going to do. Which wasn't much in the first place. England's answer to The Everly Brothers was not one of its best exports. In fact, the duo had only one hit in its native country and only hit it big when they "invaded" our shores. I'll take Paul Revere and The Raiders over this muzak any day. When we finally get to the hyped concert, there must be at least thirty screaming teenaged girls in that audience. No wonder these guys were so popular!

JS: Only one of those teenage girls mattered. I was quite shocked to find that Judy Strangis was 17 years old at the time of this Batman appearance, considering I would have guessed she was 17 years old ten years later when portraying a costumed super-heroine sidekick of her own: Dyna Girl in the Sid and Marty Kroft classic Elektra Woman and Dyna Girl.

PE: Sage advice from Batman to Robin, concerning the real danger of the Catwoman: "When you get a little older, you'll see how easy it is to become lured by the female of the species. To further his "I'm not really a sexist" stance, he tells Catwoman: "With your beauty and intelligence, you could go further helping your fellow man rather than harming him." So, could she still help if she was homely? 

JS: Sadly, a classic Bat Babe in any other episode, poor Sharyn Wynters' 'Eenie' hardly stands a chance when stacked up against Julie Newmar's Catwoman. Of course the real loser in the deal is Robin, when Catwoman decides not to hook the two of them up...

PE: A rather risque Catwoman comments that she'd "Like to have her cake ... and eat it too," pausing while running her eyes down Batman. 


JS: I think we all need to be thankful that the economic structure of the world didn't hinge on Chad & Jeremy after all.

PE: Good cast here if nothing else: Of course Newmar is heavenly. Every time she gets into one of those lounge poses, I have very non-1966 thoughts about her; Joe Flynn, fresh off his stint as Captain "Leadbottom" Binghamton (who died rather bizarrely, it seems, drowning in a pool, swimming while wearing a cast on his broken leg); and legend Steve Allen. 

JS: I love how Batman describes the audience of 5000 teenagers after we see a crowd of what, 20?


PE: Looks like this is the way it'll be from here on out. Shows that stop the action to tell a joke or crack a pun and then endless badly choreographed fight scenes. While it worked, for me, on the last couple shows, it can't sustain that atmosphere here. 

JS: Tell you what. Do it with Julie Newmar, and it's always going to work for me. But to prove I'm not just all about the skintight catsuit, I thought it best we close this review with one more bizarre skull shot.

Does this make you horny?

PE Rating: 

JS Rating: 

Next up... The Puzzler! Same Bat Time, Same Bat URL!