Puzzles Are Coming, The

Synopsis: Action series about the fictional superhero who first appeared in Detective Comics in 1939. Batman’s secret identity is Bruce Wayne, a billionaire industrialist and philanthropist. Witnessing the murder of his parents as a child leads him to train himself to the peak of physical and intellectual perfection, don a bat-themed costume, and fight crime. In this episode veteran Shakespearean actor Maurice Evans stars as the Shakespeare-quoting villain, The Puzzler.
Series: Batman
Language: English
Country: United States
Medium: Television
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Transmission details: 21 Dec 1966 (Channel: ABC)
Duration: 30 mins
Availability: No archive copy or distributor found (4/2007)

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Notes: The complete series (7 DVDs) is available from tvdvdcollectors.com. The episodes are unedited and there are no commercials.
General: A gold bust of Shakespeare is near the bat ‘phone, housing the switch to the wall panel which conceals the bat poles. When Batman pulls back Shakespeare’s head and the switch is activated, the false wall of books opens to reveal the Dynamic Duo’s accelerated access to the Bat Cave. This Shakespeare bust is in almost every episode.
History: Season 2, episode 65. There were two Puzzler episodes, the second, THE DUO IS SLIMMING, being transmitted the following week 22/12/1966.
Reviews: Burt, Richard ‘U.S. Television’ in Burt, Richard (ed). Shakespeares After Shakespeares: an Encyclopedia of the Bard in Mass Media and Popular Culture. 2 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006. (p. 595, entry 2687).