EPISODE NUMBERS: 11-12, Production Code 8711

PLOT SUMMARIES:

A Riddle a Day Keeps the Riddler Away:
After surviving the explosion unscathed in Episode 1, that crafty Count Of Conundrums, The Riddler, returns to once again overturn ceremony. Here, the ceremony is a welcoming one for the visiting King Boris, who has arrived in Gotham City to present a gift from his country, a miniature replica of The Queen Of Freedom Monument. The Riddler and his new female assistant, Mousey, present The King with an exploding bouquet of flowers, which, of course, releases a hidden riddle which leads The Dynamic Duo to believe that Riddler's planning to steal the jeweled crown from The Miss Galaxy Contest. The Caped Crusader secretly replaces the crown with a paste one containing a miniature transmitter. Later that night, The Riddler makes a surprise appearance at the contest, swipes the crown, and escapes down a trapdoor. Rushing outside to The Batmobile, The Darknight Detectives spot The Riddler emerging from an open manhole; much to their dismay, he informs them he knew from the very start that the crown was a fake, throws it back to them, and disappears.

Upon closer analysis, Batman discovered that the crown contains another riddle, which leads him to believe that The Riddler plans to kidnap the visiting King Boris. Unfortunately, The Dynamic Duo is too late to prevent King Boris' capture. The Prince Of Puzzlers plans to plant a timebomb inside the king's statue, which in turn will be placed inside The Gotham City Museum Of Fame housed in the base of the towering monument. Batman and Robin locate The Riddler's hideout but are immediately overpowered by The Count Of Conundrums and his repugnant River Rat Gang, catching them in a net and spraying them with an adhesive spray! Then they are strapped to a giant generator shaft which will spin them into oblivion!

When the Rat's Away the Mice Will Play :
While The Riddler's men escort King Boris and his statue back to Gotham, Batman manages to get his blowtorch from his utility belt and burn the armature, causing the reactor to short circuit and deactivate. The Dynamic Duo free themselves and return to The Batcave. Believing he has spun The Duo to their deaths, The Ridller proceeds wuth his blackmail scheme: to use King Boris as an unwitting pawn by his placing the statue inside the museum, and inform Commissioner Gordon that, inless he's paid a million dollars he'll destroy The Queen Of Freedom Monument!

Meanwhile, after Whitey, one of The Riddler's men, dresses up as Batman and pays a visit to Commissioner Gordon's office and Bruce Wayne, Batman and Robin have solved the last of The Prince Of Puzzler's riddles, figuring out his scheme, and they set a trap for him inside the museum. The Riddler and The River Rats arrives to collect their cash -- only to find to their dismay that not only the statue containing the bomb isn't there, the satchel of money is phony! Suddenly, The Dynamic Duo appear from a balcony above, informing The King Of Criminal Conundrums that they've already deactivated the bomb, and then deactivate The Riddler and The River Rats themselves!

WRITTEN BY: Fred DeGorter

DIRECTED BY: Tom Gries

CAST:
Frank Gorshin (The Riddler)
Reginald Denny (King Boris)
Susan Silo (Mousey)
Marc Cavell (Fangs)
Tim Herbert (Whiskers)
Roy Jenson (Whitey)
Bill Kendis (Newsman)
Joy Harmon (Julia Davis)
Johnny Magnus (M.C.)
Tristram Coffin (Ambassador)
John Archer (Guest)
John Hubbard (Maitre D')
Marvin Miller (TV Announcer)

INTERESTING NOTES:
- This episode is unusually dark in its look and like a few of the other episodes early on ("The Purr-fect Crime" being another), is played almost completely straight with very little camp

- Reginald Denny (King Boris) went on to portray his final role, that of Commodore Schmidlapp in the 1966 Batman motion picture.

- During the recap scene at the beginning of this episode, we're supposed to be shown a sketch of The Riddler's waterworks hideout, but instead we are shown the sketch of Dawn Robbins' penthouse apartment, which appeared in episode #8703-Pt. 2, "The Penguin's a Jinx."

- Look for the blatantly (campy) stuffed dummies of Batman and Robin on the drive shaft.