60s Batman show rights issues resolved!

Off topic to be sure...

Ruined? Really? It won awards, critical praise, and lasted longer than the original series. Perhaps ruined for YOU, but, come on...

 

^^ Well, both were equally bad as far as I'm concerned, but the original was more watchable.

No, you couldn't possibly be more wrong, on pretty much all counts.

Wha...?

Oh. Whew.

 

I think nostalgia does play a part.

 

Even when I was a kid, I found BSG TOS to be unwatchable.

 

Yeah it does. That's not a bad thing, is it?

 

^ No. Just saying that childhood memories and the fact that it's an early version of Batman are factors in how well it's regarded by many today. That part of Frontier's post is accurate, I believe.

 

But there's a huge difference between saying "Nostalgia is a factor in why it's loved" and "The only people who like it are mental juveniles who can't handle reality." The former is legitimate, the latter is just insulting.

 

All I know is, I've been looking up some Adam West Batman clips on YouTube. I haven't seen that show in years, and I don't think I ever realized just how kinky the show was. I mean, Batgirl sandwiched between Batman and Robin in a human Gordion knot? Wow!

 

I don't think anyone is denying that Batman is at its best when it's done seriously. What everyone is trying to say is that despite that, the 60s series has its entertainment value. It's not really a wart of pimple of the Batman franchise, just another aspect of it. A popular one too.

There are a lot of people, even today who think of Adam West as Batman, and identify with the 60s series when they think of Batman. This clearly hasn't hurt the franchise as indicated by the ticket sales of Batman Begins, and The Dark Knight, as well as the hype building up for The Dark Knight Rises.

 

Don't think of it as comedy dragging down Batman -- think of it as Batman elevating the sitcom genre!

 

I think of it as a good show and a lot better than the dreary attempts at tough-guy "darkness" in the movies.

 

As I understand it, the Batman comics were in the verge of cancellation when the show aired. The show's popularity kept them going. If so, then without the show there wouldn't have been an O'Neill/Adams Batman, an Englehart /Rogers Batman, a Miller Batman, a Dini-Timm Batman, a Burton Batman, a Nolan Batman, etc.

 

And thanks to Julie Newmar, Catwoman went from wearing skirts in the comics to (forgive the pun) catsuits so tight they may as well have been airbrushed. Thank you, Ms. Newmar; you helped a lot of healthy boys get through puberty with smiles wider than the Joker's!

Sincerely,

Bill

 

Well, not entirely. Two years before the show came along, the comics were on the verge of cancellation, and Julius Schwartz was brought in to revitalize them, which he did successfully, making it a strong seller again within months. A lot of the changes he made to the comics -- like bringing back the Rogues' Gallery in force -- helped make the show more popular when it came along, and some of the things he did with the comic were designed to make it a more suitable source for the show to adapt.

According to William Dozier (in The Official Batman Batbook by Joel Eisner), the reason ABC decided to do Batman is because they canvassed the public and asked them what comics characters they'd like to see adapted for television. Batman came in third after Superman and Dick Tracy, and they couldn't get the rights to those two. So the show happened because Batman comics were already popular. And that popularity was due to Julie Schwartz.

So it was Schwartz who saved the comic and who contributed to the show's success. But there's no doubt that the success of the show made the comic immensely more popular in turn, and cemented Batman's place as one of the most important characters in the DC stable.

What I find fascinating about Anne Hathaway's Catwoman getup in The Dark Knight Rises is how very Newmaresque it is. Although it's inspired by the current Darwyn Cooke-designed costume with the goggles, when she has the goggles up in "cat-ear" mode it looks closer to the '66 TV Catwoman costume than to any other costume Catwoman's ever had. And that's intriguing because generally Nolan's version of Batman has been as far from Dozier's as you can get.

 

Anyone else feel like the fight scene in Bruce's apartment in TDK , Batman vs the Joker and his goons, remind them a little of the old tv show?

 

Yeah, the onscreen "THWACK!" and "ZOWIE!" in that scene did seem a little familiar.

 

I figured someone would make that point.

What I meant was the staging of the shots and the lighting. Seeing Batman fighting a villain and their henchman in a lighted public place. Which was nothing like any other fight in Nolan's films

At least someone else thought the same thing -

The Dark Knight Fights 1966 Style http://youtu.be/B85QvNXApz8

 

That is literally their only area of commonality. Though I did like that video.

 

You know speaking of that sequence, I've felt for some time now that Adam West would have been perfect as the old guy who stands up to the Joker and is then told he reminds the Joker of his Father.
I know by the way that the guy who played him also appeared in Batman and Robin.

 

You mean Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT)? He's a big Batman fan. He also played the governor of the Utah Territory in "Showdown," the Jonah Hex episode of Batman: The Animated Series. (And he played himself in B&R.)