Throwback Thursday takes us back to the 1966 Batman TV-series starring Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin. Roddy McDowall guest-stars as the Bookworm who enjoys running the Dynamic Duo ragged with odd clues, misdirection (including faking the death of Commissioner Gordon), and literary references while his true goal is to get his hands on the Batmobile in order to steal priceless books from the library vault. While an odd villain, with some pretty lame henchmen, McDowall is obviously enjoying his time with the role and Francine York steals a scene or two as the member of the gang left to try and misdirect Batman. (Although the plan fails, it does allow for the capture of the Boy Wonder.)
Along with the cliffhanger death trap, in which Robin is hung upside down inside the bell tower (referencing the villain’s earlier mention of Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls), “While Gotham City Burns” also features a second trap involving a giant book left in the middle of town which the Bookworm traps the Dynamic Duo and nearly succeeds in boiling them alive. With the help of Alfred and the Bat Computer, Batman and Robin live to fight another day and thwart the villain’s heist. Quite a few Bat-Gadgets are put to use in the episodes including the Batzooka, the Batray, the Hypermetric Lie-Detector, and the Batmagnet.
