PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *psychological, sociological*
Purportedly, after
appearing as the Riddler in the 1966 theatrical movie, Frank Gorshin
refused to reprise the role for the same money. One consequence was
that writer Fred de Gorter had to revise a script for a Riddler
episode into one featuring a new villain, the Puzzler, essayed by
Maurice Evans.
Puzzler keeps the
Riddler’s obsession with leaving clues for his caped adversaries—“a
crime is nothing without a modus operandi,” he tells his female
associate—though by this time in the series, it’s easier to name
off villains who didn’t leave clues than those who did. Puzzler’s
puzzle-clues are much more vague in form than Riddler’s riddles,
and thus the crusaders indulge in a lot more logical leaps than in
most Riddler-episodes. Further, where the Riddler was manic, the
Puzzler is cool and calculating, and certainly doesn’t get mixed up
in banal fisticuffs. I assume that his tendency to lob Shakespearean
quotes at all and sundry came from the actor’s best-known
television role, the equally quotation-happy father to Samantha
Stevens on “Bewitched.”
Puzzler’s other
main obsession is with aviation, and I would presume that this motif
was one de Gorter had planned to graft onto Riddler, much the same
way that the riddle-fiend started harping on wax-gadgets in “Ring
of Wax.” Puzzler’s main scheme involves bilking billionaire
Artemis Knab—an obvious Howard Hughes spoof—out of the plans for
his new jet-plane, and to that end, he gives his henchpeople
nicknames like “Rocket” (the aforementioned female associate) and
“Ramjet.”
Though I didn’t
like the Puzzler back in The Day, his one episode is fairly strong.
The proficity of references to the Bard provides some amusement,
particularly when Batman, for no particular reason, starts reading
one of his lines with the stilted intensity one expects of
Shakespearan performances. Henchgirl Rocket O’Rourke falls into the
category of molls who turn to crime as a quick path to fame and
fortune, but doesn’t prove interesring in any other way. Puzzler’s
episode is most distinguished for an above-average deathtrap: having
the bound crusaders floating into the heavens aboard a hot-air
balloon. Their escape depends partly on Robin’s mastery of
birdcalls—foreshadowed in the episode’s opening scenes—and
partly on the bad littering-habits of one of Puzzler’s thugs.
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