There is a lot of symbolism in Red Bird, and one of the more interesting ones I coined 25 years ago was that of Robin, Batman's side kick
Whereas a lot of people might like to become Batman, this is of course an unattainable fantasy - and it would be a far better indulgence to believe that Batman already exists and the ambition is to become his apprentice, to be trained by him and go out on missions with him
So if the Kancho, or in this case the Guvnor, is the Batman, the founder, who went out into the world and earnt his skills for himself, came back and set up his operation, a student joining a dojo is a trainee Robin
If you read the comics and watch the movies, over the generations there is a lot of symbolism in Robin, the Red Bird, and his origins in Robin Hood (if you never knew this, then just look at the design of the original costume) and the interesting take of the origin of the name and concept given in Batman Forever
Of course Dick Grayson's Robin goes on to found the Teen Titans and evolve into NightWing, and it's accepted that he eventually returns to Gotham and becomes Batman permanently, takes over from his mentor
This is of course just a bit of fun, but it's a positive thing that these characters, heroes and images have been around from decades, being passed down to new generations, and being reimagined by new writers and film directors
So while none of you were born Superman and none of you can go out and become Batman, any of you can join up under a mentor and aspire to become Robin
And if anyone has a negative view of Robin The Boy Wonder due to Burt Ward's version of him in the 60s Batman show, go and watch the Green Hornet crossover. The double episode Batman and Robin meet up with the Hornet and Kato, first as enemies, then as allies, and Bruce Wayne meets as a businessman with Brett Reid.
You will all be aware that Kato was played by Bruce Lee, his big TV role in the US before he moved back to Hong Kong and made his films.
In the inevitable hand to hand fight Batman of course fights Green Hornet while Kato fights with Robin. The fight is, naturally a draw, and both teams depart the scene, to meet up again later on. The Batman TV fights are as daft as they are in any other show, though Bruce as Kato of course looks spectacular as he does in all GH episodes when he gets the chance to use his moves.
So consider this. In Bruce's shows and movies he always wins his fights, most often killing his opponents. He has beaten Benny The Jet, he has beaten and killed Chuck Norris and Bob Wall. Everyone. Except the draw between Kato and Robin in this episode.
Which means that Burt Ward was the only person ever to fight Bruce Lee to a standstill.
And the most tragic thing of all, though nobody could have known this at the time, if they had swapped partners during the fight as is often the case in these kind of show fights, we would have seen Adam West's Batman sparring with Kato.
Which means we would have actual celluloid footage of Batman fighting Bruce Lee.
Holy missed opportunities!
