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One seemingly normal day at the Gotham City Stock Exchange, one stockholder is suddenly wiped out and another apparently makes a fortune. With the Stock Exchange in an uproar, a lute-playing arch-criminal, outfitted in medieval-era clothes and calling himself the Minstrel, hijacks the broadcasts andThe Minstrel's Shakedown is an episode of season 2 of Batman. It premiered on September 21, 1966.

Synopsis for "The Minstrel's Shakedown"

One seemingly normal day at the Gotham City Stock Exchange, one stockholder is suddenly wiped out and another apparently makes a fortune. With the Stock Exchange in an uproar, a lute-playing arch-criminal, outfitted in medieval-era clothes and calling himself the Minstrel, hijacks the broadcasts and sings a polite greeting. While Aunt Harriet seems attracted to him, the Minstrel begins an extortion demand; he demands one thousand dollars a week from each of the exchange's two hundred and fifty members, and that tney mail the money to his account at the Broccoli Bank. Commissioner Gordon is notified by Brook Cortland, the Stock Exchange's President, of the crisis they now face before calling up Batman.

At Gotham City Police Headquarters, Gordon informs the Dynamic Duo about the Minstrel, who is also an electronics genius. Music and electronic energy are both transmitted which Batman suspects in the Minstrel. Cortland then tells Batman that the quotations at the exchange building were acting up and orders were coming in at false prices. Before checking out the installation, Batman suspects that the Minstrel hacked into the signal from the studio.

At the Stock Exchange, Batman believes the quotation transmitter seems to operate normally but then sees it has indeed been tampered with by the Minstrel. From his hideaway, the Minstrel listens in from a microphone, while Octavia seems to be attracted to the Caped Crusader. Batman and Robin hope to find a way to deal with the Minstrel as with other villains they have faced before.

At the Batcave, Batman and Robin prepare a bugging device to try and wiretap the Minstrel. Alfred, who was preparing dinner, has also been affected by the Minstrel's tampering. Batman arranges to return to the transmitter room of the stock exchange building to plant their own microphone.

That night back at the Stock Exchange, Batman overhears a janitor whistling the Minstrel's theme. Having been startled, the janitor woman walks off, but then the Minstrel sprays bolts to temporarily blind the Dynamic Duo and leaves. After the Minstrel's escape, Batman points out the counter oscillators in the transmitter's circuitry that interfered with the stock quotations. Having been found out, the Minstrel plans to lure the Bat-Duo to his hideout.

Back in the Batcave, Batman prepares a Bat-Drone plane so that when the Minstrel goes on the air, Batman will use the drone to track his wave lengths and find his broadcasting studio. Robin tests the signal until it gets the studio's signal. Just then, the Minstrel goes on the air again, sings about the brokers turning to Batman, and announces plans that any more interference will end with him causing the stock market to crash. Robin pinpoints that the Minstrel could be broadcasting from the Willow Street warehouse.

As the Bat-Duo make their ways into the Willow Street warehouse, Batman, suspecting a trap, plants a series of adhesive bat-bombs all over the place. Then the Minstrel's henchmen attack the Bat-Duo, and Robin confirms his mentor's suspicions just before they are overpowered. They awaken to find themselves tied to a rather crude human-sized rotisserie, which the Minstrel powers up before he and his henchmen leave that hideout and which is intended to cause the Bat-Duo's deaths either by burning them alive or by forcing them to inhale super-heated toxic smoke.

Appearing in "The Minstrel's Shakedown"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • The Minstrel (First appearance)
    • Amanda / Octavia (First appearance)
    • Bass (First appearance)
    • Treble (First appearance)

Other Characters:

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:



Notes

  • No notes.

Trivia

The name of the Minstrel's bank, "Broccoli Bank," was a play on the actual Barclay's Bank.


See Also

Recommended Media

  • None.


Links and References

  • None.

Footnotes

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