The BEST episodes of Batman season 1
Every episode of Batman season 1, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Batman season 1!
Wealthy entrepreneur Bruce Wayne and his ward Dick Grayson lead a double life: they are actually crime fighting duo Batman and Robin. A secret Batpole in the Wayne mansion leads to the Batcave, where Police Commissioner Gordon often calls with the latest emergency threatening Gotham City. Racing the the scene of the crime in the Batmobile, Batman and Robin must (with the help of their trusty Bat-utility-belt) thwart the efforts of a variety of master criminals, including The Riddler, The Joker, Catwoman, and The Penguin.
#1 - Hi Diddle Riddle
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/12/1966
While the Riddler maneuvers Batman into being sued, the Dynamic Duo investigate the supervillain's concurrent scheme.
#2 - Smack in the Middle
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/13/1966
The Riddler fashions a mold of the face of the unconscious Robin. He contacts Batman with two more riddles. The Riddler tells Batman if he can solve the riddles, he'll know where Robin is.
#3 - A Riddle a Day Keeps the Riddler Away
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 2/16/1966
King Boris, who hails from a European country, comes to Gotham City for a visit. Upon his arrival, there is a disturbance, which includes a clue from the Riddler. Batman and Robin investigate and get on the Riddler’s trail. They are trapped by the criminal, who ties them to large wheels that will spin with ever-increasing speed until they are dead.
#4 - The Penguin's a Jinx
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/20/1966
Bruce Wayne escapes the Penguin’s deathtrap and returns to the Batcave. What he doesn’t know is that one of the Penguin’s clues, an umbrella, has a listening device.
#5 - The Purr-fect Crime
Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/16/1966
Catwoman initiates a series of thefts that cause Commissioner Gordon to summon Batman and Robin. But the importance of the crimes go beyond the taking of the objects involved. The Dynamic Duo eventually find Catwoman’s lair. But Robin is whisked away while Batman is given a choice between two doors. If he picks the right door, he’ll find Catwoman. If he picks the wrong one, he’ll face certain doom. The hero makes the wrong selection and is about to be attacked by a tiger.
#6 - The Joker is Wild
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/26/1966
The Joker escapes from prison and begins another crime wave on Gotham City. After being foiled by Batman and Robin, thanks to Batman’s utility belt, the Joker decides to make his own utility belt. The Joker eventually traps Batman and Robin and, on live television, he intends to unmask them.
#7 - Batman is Riled
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 1/27/1966
Batman avoids a public unmasking but is unable to bring in the Joker, thanks to the villain’s utility belt. Eventually, Batman and Robin are captured by the Joker’s gang. But the Joker doesn’t know a showdown with the Dynamic Duo awaits.
#8 - The Joker Goes to School
Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 3/2/1966
At Woodrow Roosevelt High School, a vending machine gives out money. Dick Grayson is there to witness it. Batman learns the vending machines are operated by a company bought by the Joker after being released from prison. The Joker and his gang are aided by Susie, a cheerleader at the school. In the course of their investigation, Batman and Robin are captured and placed in electric chairs. If a “one armed bandit” comes up the wrong way, they’ll be electrocuted.
#9 - Fine Feathered Finks
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/19/1966
The Penguin plots to manipulate Batman into inadvertently devising capers for him.
#10 - When the Rat's Away the Mice Will Play
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 2/17/1966
Batman manages to escape the Riddler’s death trap. He and Robin decide to lay low until they can figure out the Riddler’s caper. Meanwhile, the Riddler frees King Boris, who brings a gift to a major monument in Gotham City. It turns out the Riddler has substituted a bomb for King Boris’s gift and he is demanding a ransom. The Riddler, though, overplays his hand, enabling Batman and Robin to capture the Riddler and his gang.
#11 - Rats Like Cheese
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/3/1966
Vince, a temperamental physician at a Gotham City hospital (a takeoff on Ben Casey), saves Batman and Robin. The Dynamic Duo resume their pursuit of Mr. Freeze. Eventually, Batman substitutes himself for Paul Diamonte, a baseball player, Mr. Freeze has kidnapped. Robin, disobeying Batman’s orders to stay away, is also captured by the villain. Now, in his headquarters, Mr. Freeze is using his climate controls so that only Batman or Robin will have access to life-giving warmth.
#12 - He Meets His Match, the Grisly Ghoul
Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/3/1966
A power failure prevents Batman and Robin from being electrocuted. Meanwhile, a recording Batman made confirms that cheerleader Susie is one of the Joker’s confederates. Robin, in his Dick Grayson identity, attempts to infiltrate the gang. Meanwhile, the Joker’s main plot is finally revealed. Members of the high school basketball team receive answers to final exams from the rigged vending machines. The Joker appears, claiming to be a concerned citizen. The team’s starters will be suspended as the Joker bets big money on the team’s next opponent. Batman, however, has other ideas.
#13 - Batman Sets the Pace
Season 1 - Episode 26 - Aired 4/7/1966
After an ingenious escape, Batman and Robin again pick up the trail of the Joker. The villain’s ultimate crime is designed not only to make him rich but to ruin Batman’s reputation.
#14 - True or False Face
Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/9/1966
False Face traps Batman and Robin, and binding them to a subway track just minutes before a train is scheduled to come by.
#15 - Instant Freeze
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/2/1966
Mr. Freeze, thought to have perished, has returned and is seeking revenge on Batman. The villain is committing crimes involving diamonds, or “ice,” in one form or another. He freezes Batman and Robin, who look like goners.
#16 - Zelda the Great
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 2/9/1966
The Dynamic Duo arrange a trap for an elusive annual bank robber, but the female magician they’re hunting is on to them with a new scheme of her own.
#17 - Better Luck Next Time
Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 3/17/1966
Batman evades the attacking tiger thanks to his utility belt. First, he scales the wall. Then, he uses a sonic device “to split the tiger’s skull,” as narrator William Dozier informs us. The hero still has to free Robin, who is facing a separate death trap. Once that task is completed, the Dynamic Duo are back on Catwoman’s trail. It turns out the feline villain is after the lost treasure of Captain Manx, which is in a remote spot outside of Gotham City.
#18 - Death in Slow Motion
Season 1 - Episode 31 - Aired 4/27/1966
Charlie Chaplin and the Keystone Kops raid the till at the newly opened Gotham movie theater. The culprits turn out to be “The Riddler” and his gang in disguise. They lead the Dynamic Duo on a crime spree chase from Mother Gatham’s Bakery, past the Gotham Library, and into a Temperance Party. At each of these events, the villains are accompanied by German film maker Van Bloheim who captures everything on celluloid.
#19 - While Gotham City Burns
Season 1 - Episode 30 - Aired 4/21/1966
Batman saves Robin from the Wayne Memorial Clock Tower at the last possible Big Benjamin second. While they are busy in the Batcave, The Bookworm steals a priceless cookbook from stately Wayne Manor. He then lures the Dynamic Duo into an oversized cookbook on display in the middle of Gotham city and steals the Batmobile. Can Batman and Robin escape before their goose is cooked?
#20 - Holy Rat Race
Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 3/10/1966
Alfred contacts Batman by radio from the Batcave. Batman instructs the butler to short circuit a communications device the hero has on his wrist. This enable Batman to get free of his bonds. He and Robin get free just before they would be run over by a subway train. The Dynamic Duo resume their pursuit of False Face, which ends up at an old movie studio.
#21 - Batman Stands Pat
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/24/1966
Batman, thanks to superior breath control, is able to escape the plaster of Paris in which he was encased. Despite this, the Mad Hatter is still at large. Eventually, Batman and Robin again face off against the Mad Hatter at his criminal lair. Things look bad, but the Dyamic Duo manage to triumph.
#22 - The Riddler's False Notion
Season 1 - Episode 32 - Aired 4/28/1966
Robin has been captured by “The Riddler,” leaving Batman fearing his own reaction. Therefore he asks Commissioner Gordon to accompany him to the Bat-cave to witness his interrogation of Pauline, The Riddler’s moll. All clues eventually lead back to the priceless silent film collection of Mr. Van Jones, to which The Riddler is about to add his own silent masterpiece.
#23 - The Bookworm Turns
Season 1 - Episode 29 - Aired 4/20/1966
Commissioner Gordon appears to have been assassinated during the opening of a new bridge. A copy of Hemingway’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls” nearly blows up the Batmobile. Both incidents are clues to the Bookworm’s latest scheme. Batman and Robin interrogate The Bookworm’s henchwoman Miss Limpet but deduce she is leading them into a trap. And while Batman intends to walk right into it, it is Robin who falls first.
#24 - The Pharaoh's in a Rut
Season 1 - Episode 28 - Aired 4/14/1966
Bruce frees himself just before the cart he is riding goes over a cliff. As Batman, he works to bring King Tut to justice. But the hero is captured by King Tut instead. Batman is then tortured as King Tut drops a pebble on his head at a time. Robin works to track Batman in time.
#25 - The Thirteenth Hat
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/23/1966
Jervis Tetsch, aka the Mad Hatter, is abducting all the jurors who convicted him of a previous crime wave. He is also taking their hats. His final target is none other than Batman, who provided the key testimony in the Mad Hatter’s trial. Batman and Robin have the Mad Hatter and his gang cornered but the criminal mastermind manages to encase the Caped Crusader in plaster of Paris.