- "Listen to me Batman, we go to Plan High C."
- ―The Minstrel[src]
The Minstrel was a villain in the Batman television series.
Dressed as a medieval musician with a gryphon on the chest, complete with a lute, he was an electronic genius which was, in fact, a logical pursuit for someone who was also highly talented in music, since both music and electronic energy are transmitted in waves. What made him so dangerous was he possessed a "level of electronic sophistication far beyond anyone else in the world" at that time.
The Minstrel used his musical talents to deliver his demands and taunts to Gotham's citizens, police force and protectors over the air waves. With rhyming lyrics he would communicate his villainous intents accompanied by soft strumming on his lute.
In addition, he had the peculiar habit of rolling his "R's."
He was not only an evil criminal mastermind, but also a strikingly handsome man who possessed a winning charm. Many of Gotham City's women were swooned by his personality and warm, attractive singing voice. Harriet Cooper, the aunt of Bruce Wayne's youthful ward Dick Grayson, was one such woman.
When his female partner in crime, Octavia, remarked that Batman too had a warm, attractive voice, the Minstrel was incredulous. He could not understand how Octavia could be fooled by what he called Batman's "phony mystique." Later on, he called Batman and Robin "inefficient."
Though Minstrel appeared to be in great physical shape, he abhorred physical violence, refusing to indulge in fisticuffs or brawling. When the Melodic Fiend was finally captured by Batman and Robin, his men defeated, he went peacefully into police custody. He did, however, promise a jailbreak and revenge in a song composed for a television interview.
History[]
The Melodic Master of Crime began his criminal schemes by changing the computerized stock quotations on the floor of the Gotham City Stock Exchange, throwing its members into a panic. He then began holding many of Gotham City's wealthy ransom with threats to crash the Gotham Stock Exchange unless he was given $1,000 per week from each of its two hundred and fifty members.
The Minstrel reported these facts to the public on television receivers all over the city with a message specifically for the members of the exchange, threatening to continue his interferences with quotations till he had eventually crashed the market. After seeing the message, Mr. Brook Courtland, the president of the Gotham Stock Exchange, phoned Commissioner Gordon, who had already seen the Minstrel's demands and been alerted to the threat. Stumped as to what they should do, the Gotham City Police Department called in Batman and Robin to investigate.
When the Caped Crusaders arrived at Police Headquarters, they met Mr. Courtland, who relayed all that had happened to them. Batman then vowed to find out more about this new criminal and deduce exactly what his next move was. He asked to be shown the transmission in the exchange building, and Mr. Courtland agreed.
The Minstrel broadcasting
The Dynamic Duo, along with Commissioner Gordon and Mr. Courtland, soon arrived at the Exchange building and examined its transmitter. When nothing seemed out of place, Batman asked to check the coding circuits. While he and Robin were examining them, the Minstrel eavesdropped on their conversation from his hideout, using a microphone he had hidden amongst the coding circuitry. The Caped Crusaders, however, found that the circuits had been tampered with and saw the microphone; they remained silent to fool the Minstrel into believing that they suspected nothing.
While talking to the Commissioner Gordon and Mr. Courtland, the heroes planned to set a trap for the villain, who himself already had a trap ready for them. They returned to the Batcave, to construct a bug similar to the Minstrel's microphone as part of their plan. Batman then phoned the Commissioner and asked him to ask Mr. Courtland to allow him and Robin to return to the corner outside the transition room that night and find them an isolated office where they would be able to lie in wait.
Back at the exchange, the Bat-Duo heard someone whistling the same tune that the Minstrel had sung when he was on television. Suspecting it to be a signal of his arrival, they investigated, only to find that it was an only a nearby custodian who happened to be whistling the tune. The Minstrel, taking advantage of that unexpected decoy, suddenly appeared and used one of his electronic gadgets, which blinded the Bat-Duo long enough for him to make his escape. Later, Batman found out that the criminal had been planning to remove another of the heterodyning counter oscillators that resembled each coding circuit; those, in turn, had caused and were causing the transmitters to go wrong.
At his hideout, the barbaric bard suspected that Batman might have discovered his work on the transmitter, and arranged his trap for them by appearing on television again, using their signal for them to track him.
Back in the Batcave, Batman designed a Batdrone plane to home onto the Minstrel's signal. It worked, and they tracked him down to a TV studio at the Willow Street warehouse. The Minstrel saw them on camera and arranged to execute his plan. The Duo arrived in the building, already suspecting themselves to be walking into a trap, and the Minstrel's henchmen appeared to fight against them. Two of them, Treble and Bass, escaped, and the Dynamic Duo followed them. Suspecting another trap, Batman planted two "adhesive Bat-bombs" on the wall of the narrow corridor before he and Robin entered the door. The Minstrel, springing his trap for them, caught and subdued them, and they were tied to a musical electronic radar grill that was intended to roast them to cinders.
The melodic fiend had not wanted to destroy Batman, whose own genius he had admired. But he was furious when the Caped Crusader tried to reform him, and in his hate for law and order, he angrily told his henchmen to switch it on before playing a taunting song. While the heroes were still revolving on the grill, however, the bombs that Batman had planted outside earlier detonated, distracting the Minstrel and his men long enough for the Dynamic Duo to loosen the pole that was rotating them and free themselves from their restraints.
After finding out that they had been tricked, the Minstrel and the others returned, and the Caped Crusaders attacked the Minstrel's henchmen. The Minstrel himself escaped and appeared on television again, singing that he had not finished with his schemes yet. While the Dynamic Duo were so distracted, his henchmen escaped, leaving Minstrel's assistant, Octavia, behind. She willingly gave up, but Batman let her go after secretly installing a tracking device in her handbag. They later called Commissioner Gordon, vowing to refuse to rest until the barbaric bard was behind bars.
At the Minstrel's hideout, Octavia arrives and Batman and Robin listened in from the Batcave. Octavia described how kind Batman had been to her, which completely infuriated the Minstrel. He then located the secret tracking device and told Batman that he would be executing his next scheme, which he called "Plan High C." He wanted Batman to gather the exchange members, Commissioner Gordon, Chief O'Hara, and Mr. Courtland to the stock exchange, where he intended to demonstrate his plan in thirty minutes.
The Dynamic Duo arrived at the exchange and there waited patiently for the Minstrel. Suddenly the whole building commenced to shake with a signal which caused subsonic vibrations, transmitted by the "sneaky singer." He again issued his earlier demands on television, this time demanding that Commissioner Gordon collect the money, deliver it to his henchmen, and issue their agreement by six o'clock. Otherwise, he threatened, he would again send his signal in one hour, this time to destroy the Exchange building.
Batman planned to switch off the power that the Minstrel was using to broadcast his deadly signal by shutting off all the power in the building. The Minstrel entered the exchange, disguised as an exchange member, and transmitted a pre-recorded message using his own power. Unfortunately, Batman saw through his disguise and exposed him.
The villain then called on his henchmen to fight and after a fierce battle, they were defeated. Minstrel tried to use his blinding device to escape, but Batman and Robin told him that they were using their Particle Acceleration Units, which made it useless against them.
After his arrest, the Minstrel sang this memorable final song on television for Batman, vowing that he would return:
- "Wait till the Jailbreak Batman, you've not seen the last of me.
- I'll clobber you and Robin. Wait and see.
- You'll vibrate both together, I'll shake off your heads.
- Oh just you wait till the Jailbreak Batman, you'll be dead."
Bruce Wayne, who had been watching this on his own television at home, listened to a suggestion from Aunt Harriet, deciding to make plans to have Commissioner Gordon help reform him.
Weapons and Equipment[]
Because the Minstrel hated physical violence, he used an array of gadgets to help in his schemes and destroy the Dynamic Duo:
- Counter Oscillators - These fascinating little devices were placed in the transmission circuits of the Gotham Stock Exchange, confusing the circuits so no stock market prices came out right. By doing so, Minstrel had full control over Gotham's stock market.
- Static Bolt Device - discharged from a small hand-held device, these bolts were used to temporarily blind and distract many people within a room.
- Sonic Beam - With this device, the Minstrel could transmit the sympathetic vibration of any structure in Gotham City. By creating this resonance, theoretically, the Minstrel could literally shake Gotham City to dust. Unfortunately for the Minstrel, in practice, it had a high power requirement, forcing him to drain electrical energy illegally from Gotham City's power grid so that he could employ it.
- Minstrel Microphone - A bug like device that was used to eavesdrop on the Dynamic Duo.
- Electrical Radar Grill - A seemingly ordinary electric grill that has a spit that rotates slowly over the heat, roasting its victims alive. It is intended to kill by cremation.
Known Associates[]
- Octavia/Amanda (portrayed by Leslie Perkins) - A beautiful young woman who helps Minstrel. She is a nice girl who is treated kindly by Batman and falls in love with him. Batman tricks her by putting a tracking device in her purse. She gets her butt hauled to prison with the others. She wears a tiny purple dress with pink leggings. She wears black high heels and has a red purse around her arm. She has brown hair in a long ponytail and white skin.
- Treble (portrayed by Remo Pisani) - Simple Henchman.
- Bass (portrayed by Norman Gabrowski) - Simple Henchman.
- Mellow (??? ????) - Minstrel's henchman.
- Dulcet (???? ?????) - Minstrel's henchman.
- The Siren - The Siren teamed up with he in a plot to steal Timothy Tempo's antique piano.
Appearances[]
Season 2[]
Films[]
Trivia[]
- Due to lack of audience response to the character, the Minstrel made no more appearances on the Batman television series.
- The Minstrel's henchwoman, Octavia, was listed as "Amanda" in the closing credits of both episodes.
- Comedian Phyllis Diller has an uncredited cameo as a cleaning woman in the Stock Exchange Building.
Gallery[]
