EPISODE NUMBERS: 71-72, Production Code N/A

PLOT SUMMARIES:

The Zodiac Crimes :
The Joker pays a visit to Commissioner Gordon's office at Police Head Quarters and swipes a Rare Art Map. Alerted, Batman and Robin deduce that The Clown Prince Of Crime is plotting to commit 12 crimes based loosely on astrological signs of the zodiac and that he committed the first Zodiac Crime already by stealing the Rare Art Map, whose initials stand for the sign of The Ram (Aries!). Meanwhile, back at his hideout Joker clues the recently arrived (rather, packaged and shipped!) Penguin into his nefarious astrological plan. He then gives a false clue to The Dynamic Duo to the effect that "Taurus The Bull is next on my show," and "You'll be singing a song of woe!" Batman and Robin deduce that Joker was telling them a lot of bull, believing that The Homicidal Harlequin's true objective involves kidnapping a famous brother-and-sister singing duo named The Twins (Gemini!), who sing a song of woe, and they rush to their aid. Unknown to our Duo, the singing duet have already been replaced by Joker's aides, and that Blackbird Of Prey, The Penguin, is waiting in the wings to ensnare The Crusaders.

Arriving at the studio, The Caped Crusader and The Boy Wonder are led outside, where Penguin escapes on Joker's Boom Bug. Racing to The Batmobile, The Dynamic Duo chase the bizarre truck, but lose The Penguin, who cleverly lifts himself off with the aid of his trusty bumbershoot and an overhead wire. While Batman and Robin are led astray, The Joker and his shapely aide, Venus, make off with the true twins: the famous Twin Diamonds! Returning to The Batcave, The Caped Crusader learns the location of The Joker's hideout by analyzing the long wig left behind by Venus at the studio when she masqueraded as one of The Twins. Arriving at the hideout, Batman and Robin find the place deserted save for Venus, who falls for Batman and agrees to help him and Robin snare The Joker. She leads The Dynamic Duo to the opera house, where The Dastardly Duo, Joker and Penguin, plans to commit 2 Zodiac Crimes: the kidnapping of Leo Crustash (Leo The Lion and Crustacean The Crab!!). A fight ensues, but Joker and his minions escape, abandoning Penguin to the fate of the authorities. Figuring that The Homicidal Harlequin is scheming to pilfer a masterpiece entitled Virgin Bereaved (Virgo The Virgin!), Batman and Robin dash to The Gotham City Museum, where they are overpowered and tied down to an altar beneath a giant meteorite, which is rigged to fall on them (and turn them into tomato paste!) when its supporting cable is severed by a revolving piece of thermite attached to a planetary mobile surrounding the great rock!

The Joker's Hard Times:
Batman frees one of his hands, takes a Batarang from his utility belt, and tosses it at the burning thermite. Breaking off a piece, Batman frees himself, pulls out a Batknife and cuts Robin loose, and they escape with seconds to spare before the great stone drops! Joker believes the duo are finished and snatches a statue of Justice (Libra The Scales!), worth a fortune in carrara marble, from outside Police HQ, just as Venus, incognito as a trenchcoat detective, plucks a jeweled scorpion (Scorpio!). The Dynamic Duo arrive at Police HQ in time to chase down The Joker, who beats a retreat in a stolen police car.

Unable to catch him, The Duo set a trap for Joker and his crew at the home of Basil Bowman (Sagittarius The Archer!). When The Criminal Clown arrives and finds Batman And Robin, he grabs Venus and, with a knife at her throat, makes his escape using her as his shield! Finally realizing Joker isn't to be trusted, Venus defects to The Dynamic Duo's side and leads him to a record shop and there they find Leo Crustash. Later, not only does Joker snatch 2 rare fish (Pisces!!) that were on exhibit at The Gotham City Park Fountain, but one of his men manages to snatch Venus as well, not long after The Dynamic Duo speed off in pursuit. Back at his GHQ, The Joker catches The Caped Crusader and The Boy Wonder in a huge net and are quickly taken to a water-filled tank, where, along with Venus, they are about to become the main course of a giant clam. The Joker departs to commit his next crime, while the clam tries to swallow Robin!!!!

The Penguin Declines:
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! Freing Venus, the trio make their escape, while The Joker, needing more assistance with his remaining 2 Zodiac Crimes, has his flunkies Uranus and Mars smuggle The Penguin out of prison in a prison laundry truck. Using a mixture of his own insidious creation, The Joker turns the entire Gotham City water supply into Jokerjelly and then demands $10 million to change it back! Meanwhile, The Penguin, claiming he has reformed, tries to woo Venus 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 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 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. The 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. 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 assures him it's his chance to get even!

WRITTEN BY: Stephen Kandel, Stanford Sherman,

DIRECTED BY: Oscar Rudolph

CAST:
Madge Blake (Aunt Harriet Cooper)
William Dozier (Narrator)
Adam West (Bruce N. Wayne/Batman)
Burt Ward (Richard "Dick" Grayson/Robin: The Boy Wonder)
Alan Napier (Alfred Pennyworth)
Stafford Repp (Chief O'Hara)
Neil Hamilton (I) (Commissioner James W. Gordon)
Cesar Romero (The Joker)
Burgess Meredith (The Penguin)
Terry Moore (Venus)
Hal Baylor (Mercury)
Joe Di Reda (Mars)
Eddie Saenz (Saturn)
Dick Crockett (Neptune)
Charles Picerni (Uranus)
Charles Fredericks (Leo Crustash)
Howard Wendell (Basil Bowman)
Louis Cordova (Salesman)
Vincent Barbi (Truck Driver)
Jonathan Kidd (1st Zoologist)
Milton Stark (2nd Zoologist)

INTERESTING NOTES:
- These episodes were the series' first of 3 three-parters, simultaneously celebrating the show's one-year anniversary and helping to open ABC's second season.

- With the exception of the last three, all of The Zodiac Crimes were comitted in the correct order of the signs of the zodiac. The last 3 crimes were done in reverse zodiac order.

SCREEN GRABS FROM EPISODE 1

SCREEN GRABS FROM EPISODE 2

SCREEN GRABS FROM EPISODE 3

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