The Joker's Flying Saucer

Having seen the last of Burgess Meredith's Penguin, "The Joker's Flying Saucer" marked the finale for Cesar Romero's fun filled Joker, his last appearance, like Meredith's, the best from this dreary season. A great deal gets crammed into this half hour, as Gotham City is gripped by a Martian invasion invented by The Joker, with Ellen Corby's Mrs. Green claiming to have had a conversation with a little green man just three feet tall, while Fritz Feld's Prof. Greenleaf spots another while conversing with Barbara Gordon at the public library. Even Byron Keith's Mayor Linseed nearly falls to pieces when it appears that the Dynamic Duo may have fallen victim to a time bomb planted by an actual green skinned accomplice of The Joker (Richard Bakalyan). Designing plans to build a flying saucer from beryllium stolen from the Wayne Foundation, inspired by a former cellmate who just happened to double as a mad scientist, The Joker kidnaps the ever present Alfred to build the contraption in a matter of hours (!), actually taking off from its abandoned launching pad factory on Flying Circus Hill, the Clown Prince of Crime seeking to make his demands for total capitulation by swooping down from outer space (stock footage lifted from the 1953 "Invaders from Mars"). For the sixth and last time, both the Batcycle and Batcopter are seen briefly in more stock footage from the feature film. Richard Bakalyan was one of the most frequent henchmen, in support of Frank Gorshin's Riddler, Victor Buono's King Tut, and Milton Berle's Louie the Lilac, while Fritz Feld had previously featured in "Pop Goes the Joker." This was also the tenth and final outing for Byron Keith as Gotham City's Mayor Linseed, a play on then-mayor of New York City John Lindsay. French sex kitten Corinne Calvet hasn't much to do as this episode's moll Emerald, but with her once busy TV career slowing to a crawl she was one of its more delightful surprises. Cesar Romero's familiar laugh would be heard no more after this broadcast from February 1968, but he was able to bow out gracefully knowing that his was the most popular villain in the show's two year history (along with Burgess Meredith's identical number of entries).

The Joker is one of the many big attractions to this series, yes I love Batman and Robin as well, but The Joker just has to laugh or make a bitchy comment and I am having a ball just watching him. Joker's Flying Saucer might not be the best Joker show, and considering the episode title you would think they could have added more Lost In Space props/costumes, but there is enough fun to be had by watching this.

It would have been more fun if the saucer did what flying saucers do and go to other planets. Instead, it does not seem to do much at all. We are now very close to the 1968 final episode of this series, and also in this year Fox's Lost In Space/Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea would end.

Fox was still a great studio beyond 1968 but, to me, it was never the same once The Bat/Jupiter 2/Seaview left the building.

I agree with the last reviewer, this episode should have been expanded because there's a lot of camp territory to be covered, and Cesar Romero's final appearance. First off, the Joker makes an UN-Glorious return to Gotham and starts a panic, all about a Martian invasion. He begins work on his own flying saucer, requiring Beryllium metal to operate it. So why not steal some?

And then there's the matter of Batgirl. The best running gag in the series had Batgirl playing the adult in the room -- always calm and composed -- even while being strapped to a rocket and ready for Blast Off.

With Meredith's Penguin now part of Bat history, Cesar Romero makes the most of what time he has left, now threatening the good folks of Gotham (and the world) to listen to him or the space aliens will launch a wave of death and destruction. In between the hysteria, it's also about the Joker's famous cackle. Unforgettable. At least it was to all us kids back in the day. Romero made the rounds of talk shows in later years, asked to perform his infamous laugh "one more time..." Obvious he enjoyed his role, the consummate entertainer at heart.

Only debit; the space ship props and lab are modest, sort of from the Ed Wood school of sci fi. Possibly to make up for it, at least from a wardrobe standpoint, the Joker teams with a cool "green" alien. Inspired by tv's Jolly Green Giant(?), only smaller. Cult film actor Richard Bakalyan makes the most of the role.

Check out some familiar faces; comedy legend Fritz Feld playing Professor Greenleaf and Ellen Corby (grandma Walton) as a lady who claims she saw a man from outer space? Special guest "partner in crime" is French actress Corinne Calvet as Emerald. Calvet was popular on tv and had recently appeared in several episodes of BURKES LAW. Then husband and wife Ida Lupino (as Dr. Cassandra) and Howard Duff (as Caballa) make a gag appearance, portraying a cozy pair of jewel thieves.

All in all a neat (condensed) episode, including a glimpse of the sleek Bat Copter and a surprise BIFFF BAMMM fight around the space ship.

Was all this inspired by the INVADERS? AAA direction by Sam Strangis, who served as co-producer throughout the series run. SEASON 3 EPISODE 24 restored color both for tv and dvd release, which is absolutely beautiful.

With a henchman disguised as a Martian, Joker sows panic in the city, making the town believe that an alien invasion is taking place. Then he dedicates himself to assembling a flying saucer with the intention of subjecting Gotham City to his whims, threatening destruction from outer space if they do not obey his orders. This episode should have been filmed in two parts, as there would seem to be a lot of missing scenes. When Joker heads to Wayne Manor to seize the Beryllium, a bomb explodes in the batcave that puts the dynamic duo to sleep for 12 hours, thus saving the production from making important sequences that make the story seem incomplete or cut. .