'Batman' 1966-68 live-action TV series wish for Blu-ray/DVD

What's wrong with a spoof? This show is to Batman what Spaceballs was to Star Wars.

What I don't understand is why it's never been seen that way.

 

I made no such effort. I don't know you and I have no reason to feel any animosity toward you. I was simply pointing out that the show is still being broadcast on television. I wasn't aware that the channel I watch it on was so obscure. I was simply trying to provide information.

 

Then my apologies for my overreaction, honorable sir...:-)

 

I remember watching this show as a part of the afternoon cartoons when I was in grade school in the late 80s/early 90s. That would be cool if it could be in syndicated packages again like that.

 

Kind of ironic to read that, since arguably Adam West is a bigger pop-culture icon today than he was in the '60s. Back then, he was just a handsome leading man who got typecast playing a campy superhero. Today, he makes a whole career out of being Adam West, playing exaggerated versions of himself on shows like Family Guy and Fairly Oddparents.

The sad thing is that Adam West is really a superb actor. But in Batman, he was asked to overact like mad, and he was so brilliant at meeting the parameters of the role that people actually believed he was a bad actor. But you have to be a fine actor to overact that perfectly.

 

Last night's Brave and the Bold was a total homagefest to the old West series, quite a lot of fun.

 

^Yeah, right down to the Commissioner, the red phone in the study, and the Batpoles. Except the vintage Batmobile they used was out of the '40s or '50s comics; I would've rather seen the convertible Batmobile.

The weird thing is that I watched that episode at 8:30 and then watched the Adam West show at 9.

 

I always wondered why the damn Batmobile didn't have those full bubble canopies that the original Futura had. I mean, sure, it looks nice, but what happens when it rains in Gotham?

 

They deploy the Emergency Bat-Umbrella, of course. Which leads to confusion when Penguin is on the loose...

 

Thanks. Alas, it doesn't seem to be part of our local cable package . . .

 

Exactly. It was always intended to be an over-the-top parody of 1940's movie serials. People have this misconception about the show, that it took itself seriously and now looks silly in retrospect. It was a comedy.

 

^Actually it was an ironically faithful recreation of the way Batman comics were actually done in the 1960s -- the colorful scenery and costumes, the goofy crimes and deathtraps, the big labels on everything, the stilted dialogue. Even the cliffhanger aspect reflected the way comics were structured at the time -- even though stories usually lasted only one issue, the issues tended to be divided into 2 or 3 chapters, a holdover from the days when a single comic contained maybe three 8-page stories per issue.

Otherwise, you're right. The Adam West Batman was a sitcom. If you compare it to The Green Hornet from the same producers, which was played straight, it's even more obvious that Batman was meant for laughs. TGH has some silly or awkward elements (mainly a tendency to cut between nighttime stock footage of the Black Beauty auto to daytime or bad day-for-night new footage), but it was a totally different beast from Batman, with less outre criminals and plots, more violence and death, and more naturalistic acting.

 

As much as I love the Futura, I've always thought, if it had gone into full production, those full bubbles would have been an instant-decap death trap in almost any collision. Especially after Jayne Mansfield, there's no way that would have survived for very long.

BTW, I don't know if there's any left, and they are at a hyper-premium, but if you go to Hollywood-Diecast.com you can find a link to a place where George Barris is selling custom miniatures of the classic 66 -mobile.

One sad thing about losing the originals is also a hopeful thing in another respect. Heirs and estates are sometimes willing to make deals that their forebears never would. I've heard tell some level of personal animosity between Murdoch and some at WB may play a role in this not moving fwd, so maybe when they all leave, who knows? We could see some movement.

As opposed to the day we learn that the small planes carrying Didio and Quesada collided. Then, worldwide, we will see much rejoicing.

 

One wonders what it would have been like if they did play it straight...Frank Gorshin's Riddler came close to being a serious character...he played him like you could tell he was a psychopath.

 

If you do not receive the American Life channel, contact your cable-provider today!

 

Oh, yeah. I would've loved to see this same cast play it straight. They had a great collection of talent assembled for this show (well, Burt Ward excepted).

 

Heck, I bet even Burt Ward could have done a decent job playing a serious Robin.

 

^I've seen one or two of Ward's later attempts at acting. Trust me, the only reason he was tolerable as Robin was because this version of Robin demanded only one emotion, namely loud enthusiasm. I don't know if he could've toned his delivery down enough for a version of Batman that wasn't deliberately overplayed, and if he had, what was left would've been too dull to watch.

 

If by some miracle the show does eventually get a DVD release, I'll be buying it. I have the DVD of the movie and it never gets boring. Even though Julie Newmar isn't in it.