If You're So Smart Why Aren't You Rich Review

It is now time to take a look at Batman the Animated Series Episode 40 If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich. In this episode, Batman matches wits with the Riddler for the first time, as Riddler tries to kill his old boss for cheating him out of royalties of a video game he created. Batman the Animated Series Episode 40 If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich aired on November 18th 1992 on FOX. Let’s not waste any further time, let’s get reviewing on this episode.

Batman the Animated Series Episode 40 If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich

This episode does have a fond place in my heart, due to it being the one I think I’ve seen the most times ever when I was growing up. I actually got a VHS with the Riddler on it that had this episode and another Riddler episode, the Riddler’s Reform, that I got out of a book club in school. I think I pretty much wore out that tape and I know pretty much this entire episode by heart.

The Riddler or really name Edward Nygma, or E. Nygma, as in enigma, another name for a riddle, hence the name Riddler, has a rather fascinating backstory. He only appears in less than a handful of comic books, before Frank Gorshin’s portrayal of him in the 1966 Adam West Live Action Batman Series made him one of the best known criminals in comic books. Later on his backstory, his psychosis was revealed, that every time he lied, he was beaten severely by his father. Therefore he must always tell the truth, but he did it with a series of complicated riddles when he committed his crimes. Actually, Riddler did reform in the comic books at one point, being a private detective, using his brilliant mind for good.

The Riddler was a very hard villain to write episodes for in this show according to those in charge of it, mostly due to coming up with Riddler’s and fitting his rather complex plots into a twenty two minute cartoon, where you could have several issues in a comic book to stretch a story out. There were many Riddler scripts for this cartoon left on the cutting room floor but the few episodes they had with the Riddler were some of the most memorable of the series.

This episode was rather fun, with Nygma, soon to be known as the Riddler, getting fired by his greedy boss, Daniel Mockridge, who is selling out to Bruce Wayne, so he can get a cool kickback and some money. Naturally Edward Nygma is not going to get a cent of this, even though his Riddle of the Minotaur Game was the game that helped make the company loads of money, so he returns as the Riddler, with henchmen to kidnap Mockridge and finish him off.

Batman and Robin get involved, as they always do and the Riddler lures them to a real life version of the Riddle of the Minotaur game in the theme park, giving them ten minutes to run the maze and find the man before he gets sliced in half by the minotaur. Riddler also makes them remove their utility belts, which makes him a rather smart villain. You never quite know what Batman might be packing in there, and I’m sure it warps the laws of time and space in some way.

The good news is, Robin has played the game (yeah, like Batman’s going to be a gamer), the bad news is that he only just got halfway, so this is going to be an adventure. Batman has a very nifty portable palm top computer which I think proves that he was way ahead the curve as far as technology is concerned as this was 1992 and such things were at least a decade away fro becoming mainstream.

They get through the maze, but with one minute to gone, Batman utilizes a cheat code (well for all intents and purposes, technically he hacked into the Hand of Fate, which takes the people into the other end of the maze, away from the center if they get a riddle wrong), and manages to save Mockridge but answering the riddle. Not so fast, Riddler orders the Minotaur robot to kill them all but Batman manages to save the day.
But not so fast(take two), the Riddler is nowhere near the theme park, he is on a plane out of the city by this time and by the time they find their way back out of the maze, he’ll have blown the city, the clever devil. And Mockridge is a paranoid wreck, because while he got that cushy payoff, the vengeful Riddler is out there still. He’ll never sleep another day in his life, as he holds a shotgun and makes sure he’s locked in his room.

This was a great episode, 9/10 for this episode. You can watch the Batman the Animated Series Episode 40 If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich on Batman the Animated Series Volume 2 and Batman the Animated Series the Complete Collection.