The Greatest Mother Of Them All
Gotham City’s annual Mother of the Year presentation ceremony descends into chaos as Ma Parker and her crime family rob everyone present at gunpoint, getting away with all of the attendees’ jewelry and purses. Commissioner Gordon is eager to put the Dynamic Duo on the case, but just as they’re being brief on Ma Parker’s lengthy rap sheet, the Gotham City Police corner Ma Parker and her gang in their backwoods hideout. Batman and Robin arrive to help, capturing one of Ma Parker’s sons as the rest of the gang escapes. Using Batman’s crime computer, they deduce where Ma Parker will strike next, again nabbing one of her sons. The pattern repeats until Ma Parker and her daughter, the last remaining members of the gang at large, are arrested, and all are taken to the Gotham City penitentiary. As Batman and Robin drive away in the Batmobile, they wonder…was ending Ma Parker’s criminal reign just a little too easy?
written by Henry Slesar
directed by Oscar Rudolph
music by Nelson Riddle / Batman theme by Neal Hefti
Cast: Adam West (Batman), Burt Ward (Robin), Alan Napier (Alfred), Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon), Stafford Repp (Chief O’Hara), Madge Blake (Mrs. Cooper), Shelley Winters (Ma Parker), Tisha Sterling (Legs), David Lewis (Warden Crichton), Michael Vandever (Mad Dog), Peter Brooks (Machine Gun), Robert Biheller (Pretty Boy), James Griffith (Trusty), James O’Hara (Policeman), Kirby Brumfield (Truck Driver), Lyzanne La Due (Nurse), Fran Ryan (Chairlady)
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Cast: Spencer Milligan (Rick Marshall), Wesley Eure (Will Marshall), Kathy Coleman (Penny Marshall), Philip Paley (Cha-Ka), Sharon Baird (Paku), Joe Giamalva (Paku)
Note: Astonishingly by today’s standards, the scenes of the seismologist lighting up and smoking a cigarette are left in; then again, it was the 1970s. At any point past the early 1980s, the scenes would’ve been edited to avoid the smoking, or the conversation would’ve been cut altogether, or – as often happened when people were seen to meet grisly ends in Battle Of The Planets – 7-Zark-7 would’ve mentioned that it’s okay for him to smoke because he’s a robot. (Okay, maybe not.) The U.N. fighter jets – all of which have canopies for pilots – are said to be “robot controlled fighters.” Other lessons learned in this episode: it’s okay to put the firing switch for nuclear weapons in the hands of an untrained (and possibly teenage) civilian, so long as she refuses to fire them because seeking revenge is bad. (The scene of her firing the weapon – as actually happened in the original Gatchaman episode – is skipped, and we hear via voice-over that Jason lets the nukes fly instead. Which is perfectly acceptable.) For the corresponding episode of Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman, 
written by Richard Beban and Peter Sauder
Notes: This is the first of three Friday The 13th appearances by veteran Canadian actor Colin Fox. His other two appearances – each as a different character – are in the show’s second season. He would later become a regular on such series as Psi Factor, and guest starred in such series as Wonderfalls, The Dead Zone, Forever Knight, Goosebumps and Relic Hunter. He’s also racked up an impressive number of animation voice credits, notably as the voice of King Harkinian in the once-weekly animated Legend Of Zelda segments of the Super Mario Bros. Super Show. Director Timothy Bond is a mainstay behind the camera of many Canadian-made genre series, including further Friday episodes (one of which, Eye Of Death, he also wrote), War Of The Worlds, TekWar, Robocop: The Series, Forever Knight, The Outer Limits and Mutant X. Some of his directing assignments outside of Canada’s borders included two third season epiosdes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and a few episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.
