#072 Archer, first draft: Why the Arrow Flew Crooked

It's time to dig into another script: Stanley Ralph Ross's first draft of Shoot a Crooked Arrow/Walk the Straight and Narrow (take a look at the script here!). Most bat-fans agree, this is a less-than-satisfying arc for a number of reasons, from the casting of the villain to some seemingly nonsensical plotting late in part one. Reading the script helps us understand what was supposed to happen there: Why did Batman say he was going to cut open the net that he and Robin were trapped in, and then not do it? What was the point of Archer pretending to decapitate Alfred?

It also raises some questions: How should Archer have been played? Totally British and debonair? Or maybe as a Jerseyite trying to speak with a British accent? Is Alan A. Dale meant as a wink to the gay audience, or the homophobe's caricature of a gay man?

And, it answers the question: If I'm making a TV show, what happens if the screenwriter and/or director lets jokes and important story points go underemphasized? Answer: This arc!

ALSO: The Labert Ellis version of the theme, and your mail!

Read 1999 interview with Stanley Ralph Ross about his Man from UNCLE work

The next script we'll look at (three podcast episodes hence) will be That Darned Catwoman -- featuring not Pussycat, but Poison Ivy!