Bat Logic (plus Zootopia Watch)

   Today I've been researching (and, like, totally not randomly slacking, but doing genuine research, gosh!) reading a lot about the Riddler in general and especially in the old Adam West Batman show, how silly it always gets whenever the Riddler is involved. Boy oh boy. Deduction of the riddle of the week always involved suspension of all known laws of logic in the string of associations it took to stop the guy... As from the 1966 movie:

   We've discovered a string of puns that tenuously could lead to either Riddler, Joker, Catwoman, or the Penguin. Well, clearly, it's all of them then, and they're all working together! Clearly.

   This theory turns out to be 100% correct. 

   Sure, it would have been nice to have some additional clues, like a little sticky note attached to that exploding shark that said, "also, guess what, the location of this attack stands for the name of someone behind this," but it looks like the detective skills The Batfamily are so great, they didn't need it. Maybe there was a note but they never said in the film, I don't know...

   There's a two-parter episode in season 2 where there's a newer bigger badder Riddler-type villain, The Puzzler, who's basically the Riddler up to an 11? Apparently there was a contract dispute with actor Frank Gorshin during season 2, so they immigrated this minor Superman villain over for Bats to fight as a Riddler clone, but they took it and ran with it, so, up to an 11. How bad? His whole clue is just the word, "puzzles." Euh. "This'll really make them put on their thinking caps," he cackles. Not an exact quote I don't think, but it's got to be true, because the Puzzler's clue somehow leads to a balloon factory or some biz, and the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder manage to figure it out. When, I repeat, the whole clue is just the word "puzzles." Which is, well it made my brain hurt how even the '60s Caped Crusader could figure that one out.

   Later, AND THIS IS AN ABSOLUTELY TRUE STORY, I was washing my hands and found myself casually trying to figure out what Puzzler did mean by "Puzzles." Puzzles... puzzles... jigsaw puzzles? puzzle pieces... piece together... piece together what? and I realized it was just random arbitrary word association from then out, once I'd made it that far and even before then, and once again it would really be helpful to have some kind of guidelines (like the above mentioned sticky note) to let me know if I was on the right track. At least provide me with the number of layers deep the word association should go, Puzzler! Wait a minute... Layers deep... Inception! Tom Hardy... No, no, no. That's not even part of the original clue! Dang it, Puzzler, now you've got me doing it. Doing it... babymaking... storks... Vlassic pickles! Oh, crap. And at that moment, I realized that I couldn't stop. Can't stop... can't stop... once you pop you just can't stop... Pringles! And Pringles stack... layers deep... nooo! 

ZOOTOPIA WATCH:
   According to the trailer, Zootopia is "from the makers of" Big Hero Six and Frozen, and I'm not sure if that means just Disney or not. All three directors were "creative leadership" on Big Hero Six, and codirector Byron Howard codirected Tangled, which is set in the same universe as Frozen, but...? Let's just assume that somewhere Frozen does fit into this, and not just Tangled, beyond just being the flavor of the decade. (Wreck It Ralph. They passed up on the opportunity to point out that Rich Moore directed Wreck It Ralph...!) It's kind of odd, though, and seeing Tangled conflated (?) with Frozen reminds me of Disney's trend recently to give their animated pictures names that can be interpreted both literally and symbolically.

"Rapunzel has severe mommy issues and feels tied down to her old life? Combine that with the hair motif and call it Tangled. The Ice Queen is emotionally stunted and needs to learn how to break free? Combine it with the snow motif and call it Frozen." -Dan Wells

   It's a pretty big trend (click on that link for the full post, and be sure to check out the comments.) If Brave, Frozen, Tangled et al. all have symbolic titles, why not Zootopia?

   ...To be sure, I'm kind of puzzled as to what that word could be symbolic to mean, but still... it'll probably all become clear once the movie comes out.