"If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?" is the thirty-ninth episode of Batman: The Animated Series. It first aired on Fox Kids in the United States on November 18, 1992. This episode features the debut of The Riddler, building to his upcoming role in the 1995 live-action film Batman Forever.
Synopsis[]
Software designer Edward Nygma returns to his office and finds it locked and his name on the door gone. His boss Daniel Mockridge smugly informs him that he has been fired since Nygma previously sued him for royalties to the computer game he designed called "Riddle of the Minotaur". Nygma protests his firing, saying that the company Competitron is now making millions from his game. Mockridge dismisses this and reveals that quite a while ago, he got Nygma to sign a work-for-hire contract that did not give him any royalties or copyrights to the game, to secure the vast fortune for himself. Outraged, Nygma challenges that Mockridge's greed is no match for his genius, to which Mockridge responds: "If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?"
Two years later, Mockridge, free and clear of any obligations to Nygma, is negotiating to sell Competitron to Wayne Enterprises for a lucrative buyout. The negotiations are interrupted when Mockridge catches sight out the window of a stock update screen, which someone has tampered with to send him a riddle "Why do multi-billion-dollar deals break down in the Wasteland?", inviting him to "The Wasteland". Mockridge leaves the meeting in a hurry, and Bruce Wayne and Lucius Fox turn to see the message.
He considers the message in the Batcave, where Dick Grayson is enjoying "Riddle of the Minotaur" on the computer Dick comes across a riddle "What is the shortest distance between a point in Nome, Alaska and a point in Miami, Florida?". Dick selects the "Straight Line" answer, though Alfred Pennyworth suggests the answer on a globe is a curved line. As Batman tries to figure out the clue, Dick's in-game character is grabbed by the Hand of Fate, Dick explains to Alfred that whenever a player makes a mistake the hand picks them up and takes them to another part of the maze. Batman realizes the Wasteland is the name of both a location within the game which is a dead end and a nightclub in Gotham that Mockridge owns, thanks to Dick getting a game over.
Mockridge enters the closed club and finds Nygma waiting in the manager's office. Mockridge orders Nygma to get out and tells him he's selling out to Wayne. Nygma offers him a proposition in exchange for figuring out his ring puzzle. He tricks Mockridge into cuffing himself with said ring puzzle. Furious, Mockridge asks if Nygma is running some kind of extortion scheme, but Nygma says that it's now Mockridge himself he wants, as his thugs grab him from behind. Batman & Robin arrive, and Nygma makes his first appearance as "The Riddler".
In the fight with Riddler's thugs, Riddler overloads the club's dance lights, sets the club on fire, and traps Robin in an oversized Chinese finger trap. Batman is forced to let Riddler escape with Mockridge to save his partner as Mockridge shouts to Batman that he'll pay him anything to help him.
As they drive in pursuit, Batman explains that he knows the Riddler's real identity, having investigated Mockridge's background. They notice the city lights blinking, and realize that Riddler is now tampering with the electrical grid to send a message via Morse Code. Batman decrypts the message and finds another riddle "When is the Minotaur's owner as high as an elephant's eye?", which he realizes is an invitation to the "Riddle of the Minotaur" amusement park outside the city, the centerpiece of which is a maze like the one found in the game, after figuring out that Mockridge owns "Riddle of the Minotaur", corn is as high as an elephant's eye and another word for corn is maize, meaning "When Mockridge is in the maize".
At the entrance to the maze, Riddler appears on a screen and shows them Mockridge, tied up at the center of the maze with the Minotaur robot, programmed to kill him in less than ten minutes. Before he lets Batman & Robin enter, he tells them to leave their utility belts behind to make things more interesting. When Batman asks Robin how far he got in the game the latter replies halfway.
Entering the maze, they find that Riddler has "updated" its features to make it more lethal. These include the Griffin, which blocks the way they came in and shoots fireballs from its mouth, and a corridor labeled "Loser's ahead" where there are blades at neck point meaning loses a head. After getting out of the corridor Batman and Robin encounter Griffins in front of and behind them, with Robin telling Batman no one has ever made it to the center of the maze. Batman and Robin jump back into the Losers Ahead corridor and both Griffins destroy each other. Riddler informs Batman he has eight minutes left until Mockridge becomes the only good corporate shark: a dead one. Batman and Robin soon arrive at a fork with a riddle written in Arabic which translated reads "Which way to the eating place". They go through the left corridor only to realize they went the wrong way after Robin recognizes the Hand of Fate. Batman realizes in the Arab world people always eat with their right hand. They soon come across a locked door with three keys each labeled A, C, and D respectively. Batman tries the key labeled D but as he turns it two giant spinning blades are launched. Luckily, the duo avoids them. Just as Batman is about the try the key labeled A, Robin stops him saying three blades will be launched if that key is turned and suggests trying the C key. Before turning the key, the duo place their backs against the wall. They turn the key, and the door opens. Robin explains that it was a musical puzzle with the key of D having two "sharps", the key of A having three, and Batman deducing the key of C has no sharps. Even after solving these riddles and avoiding multiple traps, they are still only halfway through. They arrive at a three-way path with the left path having a zig-zag line depicted above it, the middle door depicted with a straight line, and the right door depicted with a curved line. Robin recognizes this as the riddle he got to in the game. With only one minute remaining, Batman goes through the left corridor and captures and reprograms the robotic "Hand of Fate" to carry them to the center of the maze, which Riddler describes as cheating.
Once in the center, they still need to solve the Minotaur's riddle to keep it from killing Mockridge. The Minotaur asks "I have billions of eyes, yet I live in darkness. I have billions of ears, yet only four lobes. I have no muscle, yet I rule two hemispheres. What am I?" To Riddler's chagrin, Batman does so answering that it's the human brain, causing the robot to stand down. Batman explains the brain has billions of optic and auditory nerves, four lobes, and two hemispheres, and is the only thing Nygma respects. Incapable of losing gracefully and frustrated at his attempt for revenge foiled, Riddler orders the robot to destroy them anyway. Narrowly, they manage to save Mockridge and destroy the Minotaur robot using the Hand of Fate via remote. However, Riddler informs them that he's actually been talking to them from a private plane and has already made good on his escape.
Wayne Enterprises acquires Competitron, bringing a surge of much-needed jobs to the city. Dick is still bitter that Mockridge, whose greed and dishonesty started the whole battle with the Riddler in the first place, made millions out of the buyout and ultimately got away scot-free.
Bruce, however, is strangely satisfied, noting that neither they nor the authorities have had any success tracking the Riddler down for months. He wonders how well Mockridge will be able to sleep with his enemy still at large. Indeed, Mockridge shivers in terror as he makes his way to bed. He locks five separate deadbolts on his door, then tiptoes to his bedroom while searching his apartment and carrying a shotgun. He checks under the bed, then climbs in and turns out the light, staring fearfully at the ceiling. Batman is then heard quoting "How much is a good night's sleep worth? Now there's a riddle for you!"
Cast[]
- Kevin Conroy as Batman
- Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Alfred
- John Glover as The Riddler
- Gary Frank as Dan Mockridge
- Loren Lester as Robin
- Brock Peters as Lucius Fox
- Hal Rayle as Henchman
Trivia[]
- The first half of the 7th level of The Adventures of Batman & Robin: The Video Game for the SNES is strongly based on this episode. Every riddle is taken from this episode, and the title card and music are the same.
- When Robin plays The Riddle of the Minotaur, various sounds from the first two Super Mario Bros. games can be heard, namely the jumping sound from Super Mario Bros 2, and the pipe sound, shell hit sound, block hitting sound, and explosions from the first Super Mario Bros.
Errors[]
- At the beginning of the episode, when Edward walks into the office building, the cubicles are build like a maze, but one of the cubicles is blocked off at all four sides, making it impossible to enter, however, there is still a filing cabinet inside it.
- When solving the puzzle of the keys, Batman takes the 'A' key off the hook and tries to use it, but Robin stops him and Batman drops the key on the floor, however, in the very next shot, the key that Batman dropped is hanging on the hook again. In the shot after that, the key is off the hook again.
Gallery[]
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External links[]
- "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?" at Batman: The Animated Series Wiki
- "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?" at DC Animated Universe Wiki
- "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?" at IMDb