Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
It is the show's tell: Robin's wide-eyed gosh-wow outrage, delivered with total sincerity inside a comic-book world that never winks. The joke is the noun, which is rarely the thing in danger and is always funnier for it, so fans collect them and invent their own. It has outlived the show as shorthand for any breathless sidekick reaction, and later Batman works still wink at it.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for BatmanShow the scene
The "Holy ..., Batman!" exclamation is the running gag of Batman (1966): Burt Ward's Robin, the teenage Boy Wonder, punctuates crises with "Holy" plus a noun picked to fit the moment. A real, well-attested example comes in "Batman Is Riled", episode six, the second part of the Joker's first story, written by Robert Dozier. During a Joker broadcast built around a deliberately mangled saying, Robin exclaims "Holy grammar!" and Batman corrects the phrase to "best", not "good". Alfred then points out the blindfold clue.
Sources (3)
- Wikiquote: Batman (TV series)Section 'Batman Is Riled' [1.06] and the series header quotesReference checked
- Wikipedia: Batman (TV series)Cast section, Burt Ward entryReference checked
- Wikipedia: List of Batman (TV series) episodesSeason one, episodes 5 and 6Reference checked
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