They're late in Season 1 ATM.
MeTV's SuperSci-Fi Saturday Night
- Thread starter JD
- Start date
Of course, some of those old seasons can be like 2-3 seasons of new series.
I just stumbled upon Decades today...didn't even know we had it. I had to show hubby some Man From UNCLE, since I dragged him to the movie this summer. Ah, young David McCallum... Seriously, Illya was the coolest cat ever. 
^^ The show had a really great cast. Both McCallum and Vaughn are cool cats, and, of course, Leo G Carroll is one of the greatest character actors of all time.
As for the movie, I blind bought it about a month ago, but I haven't had a chance to watch yet.
As for the movie, I blind bought it about a month ago, but I haven't had a chance to watch yet.
I saw part of the Yvonne Craig episode myself. I think it said episode 26 or 27. In those days, sitcoms could get well into the 30s. I don't think we'll ever see that again.
It was episode 23 of 29 in Season 1, FWIW. (It's kind of funny seeing an IMDb profile picture that has an actress wearing a mask...or should I say cowl?)
When I was a teenager in the '80s, a friend and I were teasing his mom because she had one of David McCallum's albums.
When I was a teenager in the '80s, a friend and I were teasing his mom because she had one of David McCallum's albums.
So, Christo, we reviewin' da Hulk or wot?
I might, but only if you never call me that again...
So it's been awhile since I've seen the two-episode version of the pilot...what's the cutoff point of the first episode?
No idea. Probably the tire-changing scene. If only he had called AAA, his whole life would have been different.
I wanna say it was sometime the next morning in the woods...maybe when he was in the middle of his fight with the hunter.
In the 80's syndication package, the first part would end on the scene of Banner (post first Hulk-out) at Elaina Marks' apartment, revealing what he experienced.
Yeah, that sounds right. I remember noticing the first time that I saw it in syndication that part of that scene was cut (where somebody [McGee?] came to the door and David was laying low in the other room).
But now I feel stupid...I went to Netflix to check, and it's the two-part version of the pilot that they have! (I have the full version on DVD.)
But now I feel stupid...I went to Netflix to check, and it's the two-part version of the pilot that they have! (I have the full version on DVD.)
Batman--
"The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra"
Ida Lupino--one of the earliest and most groundbreaking female actress / director / producers in cinema history shows up as Dr. Cassandra--one in a long line of alchemists. Cassandra, along with Cabala (portrayed by Lupino's then-husband Howard Duff), robs Spifanny's jewelry store, and uses her Alvino ray gun, which turns three dimensional objects into 2D, cardboard-like structures.
It does not help that the aged Lupino (50 at the time) and Duff (55) are dressed as the already out of fashion "swinging sixties" clothing and slang--again, proving how the older men behind Batman were not in touch with the changing youth culture.
This two second plot of an episode has the "Terrific Trio" butt heads with Cassandra, find themselves turned into living standees, and having to face off with Cassandra's jail break of Gotham's worst arch criminals. The letdown here (for kids) is that the villains are not Romero's Joker, Buono's Tut, Gorshin's Riddler, Price's Egghead or Meredith's Penguin--but their stunt doubles--with recycled audio of the actors' signature howls, squawks, etc. A cheap, you-know-its-the-end ploy by Greenway Productions.
By the way, the Catwoman stunt woman is not based on that season's Eartha Kitt, but Julie Newmar's version. So, for anyone missing Newmar by that point (and they were), this was a last opportunity to see anyone even resembling her Catwoman.
So stripped was Batman in this penultimate episode, that director Sam Strangis could not even use the villain stunt performers much, instead, during the Bat-fight, they use Cassandra's invisibility pills, prompting Batman to shoot out the lights, so the camera just pans right and left (intercut with Bat-fight onomatopoeia and struggle sound effects), until Batman pulls out a flashlight to look at the non-performing stuntmen laying in a pile.
In March of 1968, if one did not read the tabloids which announced Batman's cancellation weeks earlier, episodes of this kind certainly gave the strong impression that it was not returning for a fourth season. However, even if fans paid no attention to the tabloids, William Dozier left no question about the series' fate in the finale's teaser--
...and the next episode--#120--would be the end, as we will see next week.
"The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra"
Ida Lupino--one of the earliest and most groundbreaking female actress / director / producers in cinema history shows up as Dr. Cassandra--one in a long line of alchemists. Cassandra, along with Cabala (portrayed by Lupino's then-husband Howard Duff), robs Spifanny's jewelry store, and uses her Alvino ray gun, which turns three dimensional objects into 2D, cardboard-like structures.
It does not help that the aged Lupino (50 at the time) and Duff (55) are dressed as the already out of fashion "swinging sixties" clothing and slang--again, proving how the older men behind Batman were not in touch with the changing youth culture.
This two second plot of an episode has the "Terrific Trio" butt heads with Cassandra, find themselves turned into living standees, and having to face off with Cassandra's jail break of Gotham's worst arch criminals. The letdown here (for kids) is that the villains are not Romero's Joker, Buono's Tut, Gorshin's Riddler, Price's Egghead or Meredith's Penguin--but their stunt doubles--with recycled audio of the actors' signature howls, squawks, etc. A cheap, you-know-its-the-end ploy by Greenway Productions.
By the way, the Catwoman stunt woman is not based on that season's Eartha Kitt, but Julie Newmar's version. So, for anyone missing Newmar by that point (and they were), this was a last opportunity to see anyone even resembling her Catwoman.
So stripped was Batman in this penultimate episode, that director Sam Strangis could not even use the villain stunt performers much, instead, during the Bat-fight, they use Cassandra's invisibility pills, prompting Batman to shoot out the lights, so the camera just pans right and left (intercut with Bat-fight onomatopoeia and struggle sound effects), until Batman pulls out a flashlight to look at the non-performing stuntmen laying in a pile.
In March of 1968, if one did not read the tabloids which announced Batman's cancellation weeks earlier, episodes of this kind certainly gave the strong impression that it was not returning for a fourth season. However, even if fans paid no attention to the tabloids, William Dozier left no question about the series' fate in the finale's teaser--
...and the next episode--#120--would be the end, as we will see next week.
Last edited:
Batman: "The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra": This is a weird one. A couple of middle-aged alchemists who talk like beatniks? Invisibility that "isn't really" invisibility but might as well be? Flattening the Terrific Trio? And it teases a team-up of all the arch-villains and then just gives us a bunch of non-speaking photo doubles, and the big fight is invisible/in the dark. Which is mildly amusing, but still frustrating. It just didn't really work.
The show really was taking a more fanciful tack toward the end. I wonder, if there'd been a fourth season, would we have seen more of the fantasy and sci-fi elements of the Silver Age comics? A time machine? Batman turned into Bat-Mummy or Bat-Baby or Bat-Ape? Billy Barty as Bat-Mite?
I think this is the first time we get "Special Guest Villainess" and "Extra Special Guest Villain," rather than the other way around. Nice having the female character in the lead (something we also saw in the Catwoman-Joker team-up), but the characters just didn't work that well. Ida Lupino was fairly good given the limits of her material, but Howard Duff's Cabala was just annoying. Enough with the "Doccy-Baby" all the time!
Cute meta reference with Gordon saying "A Batfight rarely takes more than 40 seconds." Batman's line about Robin undergoing "the first oncoming thrust of manhood" while Batgirl was sitting on his lap was pretty brazen innuendo -- although it would've been a bit less disturbing if they hadn't just roofied Batgirl.
Seriously, why was Batgirl so content with the idea of being kept in the dark about the Duo's secrets? Surely they'd make a more effective team if they all knew each other's identities. That's bugged me pretty much my whole life. I never got why they didn't team up fully. (In the '77 Filmation animated series that brought back West and Ward and was kind of a pseudo-sequel to this, Batman and Robin did know Batgirl's true identity, though it was ambiguous whether the reverse was true.)
I don't think I'm gonna watch Hulk tonight. Maybe I'll watch it on Netflix later and chime in.
The show really was taking a more fanciful tack toward the end. I wonder, if there'd been a fourth season, would we have seen more of the fantasy and sci-fi elements of the Silver Age comics? A time machine? Batman turned into Bat-Mummy or Bat-Baby or Bat-Ape? Billy Barty as Bat-Mite?
I think this is the first time we get "Special Guest Villainess" and "Extra Special Guest Villain," rather than the other way around. Nice having the female character in the lead (something we also saw in the Catwoman-Joker team-up), but the characters just didn't work that well. Ida Lupino was fairly good given the limits of her material, but Howard Duff's Cabala was just annoying. Enough with the "Doccy-Baby" all the time!
Cute meta reference with Gordon saying "A Batfight rarely takes more than 40 seconds." Batman's line about Robin undergoing "the first oncoming thrust of manhood" while Batgirl was sitting on his lap was pretty brazen innuendo -- although it would've been a bit less disturbing if they hadn't just roofied Batgirl.
Seriously, why was Batgirl so content with the idea of being kept in the dark about the Duo's secrets? Surely they'd make a more effective team if they all knew each other's identities. That's bugged me pretty much my whole life. I never got why they didn't team up fully. (In the '77 Filmation animated series that brought back West and Ward and was kind of a pseudo-sequel to this, Batman and Robin did know Batgirl's true identity, though it was ambiguous whether the reverse was true.)
I don't think I'm gonna watch Hulk tonight. Maybe I'll watch it on Netflix later and chime in.
The Incredible Hulk (pilot) --
Originally airing in November of 1977, the pilot was part of a significant year for Marvel's characters--after years of on again, off again interest--the publisher finally saw live action adaptations of their flagship characters--both on CBS. Two months earlier, The Amazing Spider-Man pilot movie premiered, launching that short-lived, Nicholas Hammond series.
The 1970's was a game changing decade for superhero adaptations; Richard Donner's Superman the Movie more than lived up to its tagline. "You will believe a man can fly," with its still-powerful portrayal / imagery of the DC hero, effectively making the world take filmed superheroes as serious, even majestic. However, in the fall of 1977, with Superman still a year away, The Incredible Hulk pilot had a similar effect, earning its place among the adaptations that made the fantastic seem real, and of great importance, respectable.
Bixby's soulful, intelligent, sympathetic Banner, & Lou Ferrigno's massive, yet flexible Hulk can easily be imagined tearing through the streets of then-contemporary America, just as easily as Reeve's Kent/Superman, leaving no question why both series' performances are still held in high regard.
It is difficult to think some of today's live action superheroes will be seen in the same way years from now, as some.
Of special note is actress Susan Sullivan as Dr. Elaina Marks--Banner's colleague, longtime friend (at least since college), and patient, would-be love interest. Every bit Banner's equal, she--unlike certain 21st century adapted characters--did not need to scream her value in order for said value to be seen.
One cannot move past part one of this syndicated half of the pilot without a nod to one of the greatest superhero images of the 70s--the newly "born" Hulk rising in the middle of a nighttime storm. Unforgettable.
Writer/Director/Producer Kenneth Johnson offered a wealth of insight into the adaptation and tone of the series:
Johnson on Bixby's casting and as a performer:
The level of development of pilot Banner is impressive, and heartfelt. The personal tragedy dropped on Banner is rare for comic adaptations; in today's cycle of superhero productions, loss is usually a means to an end, but rarely will you see it inform and shape the character's past, present and journey in such a consistently adult manner. Banner's nightmares of a life of love and tragedy--only to wake up caught in the moment was handled brilliantly; for anyone who witnessed he loss of a loved one, and suffered with memories in its aftermath, the dream sequence can be quite rattling
Trivia: Lara Parker guest starred as the ill-fated Laura Banner, but was and is best known as Angelique, the witch (and one-time vampire) nemesis from Dark Shadows. She was not the only former DS actor appearing in a Marvel TV pilot, as Thayer David (Professor Stokes, Count Petofi, et al) was the main villain of The Amazing Spider-Man pilot, as seen below--
Originally airing in November of 1977, the pilot was part of a significant year for Marvel's characters--after years of on again, off again interest--the publisher finally saw live action adaptations of their flagship characters--both on CBS. Two months earlier, The Amazing Spider-Man pilot movie premiered, launching that short-lived, Nicholas Hammond series.
The 1970's was a game changing decade for superhero adaptations; Richard Donner's Superman the Movie more than lived up to its tagline. "You will believe a man can fly," with its still-powerful portrayal / imagery of the DC hero, effectively making the world take filmed superheroes as serious, even majestic. However, in the fall of 1977, with Superman still a year away, The Incredible Hulk pilot had a similar effect, earning its place among the adaptations that made the fantastic seem real, and of great importance, respectable.
Bixby's soulful, intelligent, sympathetic Banner, & Lou Ferrigno's massive, yet flexible Hulk can easily be imagined tearing through the streets of then-contemporary America, just as easily as Reeve's Kent/Superman, leaving no question why both series' performances are still held in high regard.
It is difficult to think some of today's live action superheroes will be seen in the same way years from now, as some.
Of special note is actress Susan Sullivan as Dr. Elaina Marks--Banner's colleague, longtime friend (at least since college), and patient, would-be love interest. Every bit Banner's equal, she--unlike certain 21st century adapted characters--did not need to scream her value in order for said value to be seen.
One cannot move past part one of this syndicated half of the pilot without a nod to one of the greatest superhero images of the 70s--the newly "born" Hulk rising in the middle of a nighttime storm. Unforgettable.
Writer/Director/Producer Kenneth Johnson offered a wealth of insight into the adaptation and tone of the series:
Johnson on Bixby's casting and as a performer:
The level of development of pilot Banner is impressive, and heartfelt. The personal tragedy dropped on Banner is rare for comic adaptations; in today's cycle of superhero productions, loss is usually a means to an end, but rarely will you see it inform and shape the character's past, present and journey in such a consistently adult manner. Banner's nightmares of a life of love and tragedy--only to wake up caught in the moment was handled brilliantly; for anyone who witnessed he loss of a loved one, and suffered with memories in its aftermath, the dream sequence can be quite rattling
Trivia: Lara Parker guest starred as the ill-fated Laura Banner, but was and is best known as Angelique, the witch (and one-time vampire) nemesis from Dark Shadows. She was not the only former DS actor appearing in a Marvel TV pilot, as Thayer David (Professor Stokes, Count Petofi, et al) was the main villain of The Amazing Spider-Man pilot, as seen below--
Last edited:
In March of 1968, if one did not read the tabloids which announced Batman's cancellation weeks earlier, episodes of this kind certainly gave the strong impression that it was not returning for a fourth season. However, even if fans paid no attention to the tabloids, William Dozier left no question about the series' fate in the finale's teaser--
...and the next episode--#120--would be the end, as we will see next week.
No, look at the placement of the caption. That's not saying "The show's ending," it's saying, "Hey, look at Zsa Zsa Gabor's ass." This episode had more than its share of sexual innuendoes -- I mentioned the "thrust of manhood" joke, and there was also the bit where Batgirl said she was getting flat and Cabala said "What a pity." There's also a bit where we see the couple from the waists up and Cassandra reacts in a way suggesting that Cabala has just swatted or goosed her rear.
It's been a long time but is that the same episode with Batgirl saying "I'm going flat" and Batman says "What a pity."?
NVM: Ninja'd by Christopher
No, "the end" was deliberately signalling the end of the series; ABC pulled the plug some time before (and was publicized)--Dozier knew this, and was more than happy to drop it, since he would make much from the immediate syndication of Batman (and passed 100 episodes) thank keeping an expensive series (even after cutting the budget for season three) in production.
If Batman was tagging "the end" as a reference to Gabor's ass, then they would taken advantage of all of the other female guest stars throughout its run--Newmar in particular, considering her prominent rear. It was never used before, as it only served one purpose.
^At least they found a way to work in TIH without getting rid of anything. It was nice symmetry how they had the big three in order of creation, general cultural prominence, and the consecutive decades in which their shows aired for a while there, but to the general audience, they're all super-heroes.
The Incredible Hulk
Pilot: Part 1
The alliteration as the excuse for the name change is pretty lame considering that the comic book character had the same initials as the actor playing him.
The individual episodes could get pretty formulaic, but the pilot definitely sets the tone of this being a more mature adaptation of a comic book property...the cheese of contemporaneous production Wonder Woman is nowhere to be seen, and they weren't doing that montage of David and Laura at the beginning for the kiddies. In my case it was divorce, not death, but I can definitely identify with that image of David waking up alone, still on his side of the bed.
As different as the TV version is from the comics, I think that it worked because they kept the core elements while finding a way to adapt it that worked for a TV series of the era. They never could have made the mile-jumping, tank-throwing, child-talking comics version work on TV in those days. And most importantly, what they did do with the character(s), they took seriously, and did with a straight face.
Compare and contrast with the Spider-Man series, which just made Spidey...boring.
I always thought it would have been interesting to see Ben from the pilot revisited, but I guess it would have ruined the premise if David had a regular ally/confidante.
Ah, and that "Lonely Man" theme...totally takes me back to those childhood Friday nights watching the show in first run....
Sorry that Christo...pher couldn't join us for this one.
Also, caught Bixby earlier today on an episode of Love, American Style, FWIW.
The Incredible Hulk
Pilot: Part 1
The alliteration as the excuse for the name change is pretty lame considering that the comic book character had the same initials as the actor playing him.
The individual episodes could get pretty formulaic, but the pilot definitely sets the tone of this being a more mature adaptation of a comic book property...the cheese of contemporaneous production Wonder Woman is nowhere to be seen, and they weren't doing that montage of David and Laura at the beginning for the kiddies. In my case it was divorce, not death, but I can definitely identify with that image of David waking up alone, still on his side of the bed.
As different as the TV version is from the comics, I think that it worked because they kept the core elements while finding a way to adapt it that worked for a TV series of the era. They never could have made the mile-jumping, tank-throwing, child-talking comics version work on TV in those days. And most importantly, what they did do with the character(s), they took seriously, and did with a straight face.
Compare and contrast with the Spider-Man series, which just made Spidey...boring.
I always thought it would have been interesting to see Ben from the pilot revisited, but I guess it would have ruined the premise if David had a regular ally/confidante.
Ah, and that "Lonely Man" theme...totally takes me back to those childhood Friday nights watching the show in first run....
Sorry that Christo...pher couldn't join us for this one.
Also, caught Bixby earlier today on an episode of Love, American Style, FWIW.
Last edited:
