MeTV's SuperSci-Fi Saturday Night

[TREK_GOD_1]

Batgirl was a wonderful character! She was the best thing about the otherwise disappointing third season, and she became an enduring character in the comics whose popularity has continued to the present day. She was one of the strongest female characters in '60s TV, up there with Mrs. Peel and Agent 99. She was a smart, independent, heroic woman who could do everything Batman could but without the benefit of a multimillionaire's resources. She was utterly fearless and didn't feel she had to leave the fighting to the menfolk. She was a terrific role model for the young girls watching the show.

Christopher, placing Batgirl on the same level as 99 or Peel is an insult to those characters. Batgirl pranced around, referring to the stereotypical "women's intuition" or tea leaves (and it was not her being facetious) as her crime-fighting tools, instead of intellect & training. For batgirl to be presented that way in the late 1960s--after the advances made by Peel, 99, Honey West, Cinnamon Carter and others promoting intelligent, strong female characters, Batgirl was like something out of 1960, instead of the 1967-68 season.

If that was not bad enough on the intellectual level, Batgirl--supposedly a costumed superhero--contributed what to the once raucous, exciting bat-fights (pre-Batgirl) seen in seasons 1, 2 and the 1966 movie? Slow high kicks and pirouettes, followed by some sassy remark.

The character appearing in the comics of the same period was much more advanced, and did not seem to be an oddity amongst the endless superheroes and villains of the day.

 

[Christopher]

Of course there were some chauvinistic elements, but there was a lot more there as well. She was routinely shown as smart enough to deduce the same conclusions that Batman and Robin reached with the Bat-computer, using only the books at hand in her job as a librarian. Maybe once or twice she made a "woman's intuition" crack, but it's profoundly wrong to say she never relied on her intellect. And yes, the network censors wouldn't let her throw a punch, but what's more important is her attitude, her fearlessness. Like the time when she found herself faced with a room full of henchmen and the villain tried to be chivalrous and told the goons to go easy on her, and she said not to bother because she'd happily take them all on. And while it's true that, as the season progressed, the writers increasingly saddled Batgirl with the role of damsel in distress for Batman to rescue, she never acted like a frightened victim. Yvonne Craig played her with great confidence and poise, and totally captured the comics character's sense of joy in her crimefighting.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Of course there were some chauvinistic elements, but there was a lot more there as well. She was routinely shown as smart enough to deduce the same conclusions that Batman and Robin reached with the Bat-computer, using only the books at hand in her job as a librarian.

Batman & Robin did not exclusively use the Batcomputer to solve problems. They were presented as able to use their detective skills on their feet. What was Batgirl's training? All we know--on screen--is that she's a librarian who wanted to emulate Batman. If anyone thought being the daughter of Commissioner Gordon meant she gleaned some police investigative skills, I would offer the reminder that such an idea is speculation never written for the series. In short, if it was not on screen, it did not happen.

The fact an already weak character even referred to women's intuition and tea leaves as part of her skill set was utterly degrading, and forever shoved her in a lock box of sexism.

The producers seemed to have a problem with a strong portrayal of a female protagonist. Contrast that with the best of the Catwoman episodes, where she was depicted as being intelligent, world wise about several subjects, and calculating enough to form crimes as well as any man...and she never claimed to use sexist nonsense like tea leaves and women's intuition.

And yes, the network censors wouldn't let her throw a punch, but what's more important is her attitude, her fearlessness

Her fearlessness means what if you place her with the type of fight violence established in the two seasons / movie before her debut? Would her high kicks or reaching for a conveniently placed wooden apple cart have a place against the Riddler wildly swinging a large sword as seen against Batman("Give 'Em the Axe"), being choked by the Joker ("The Joker is Wild"), or how about facing off against the Green Hornet & Kato ("Batman's Satisfaction") not to mention Col. Gumm & his henchmen?

And while it's true that, as the season progressed, the writers increasingly saddled Batgirl with the role of damsel in distress for Batman to rescue, she never acted like a frightened victim.

She was too busy being confused or sassy to be frightened.

Yvonne Craig played her with great confidence and poise, and totally captured the comics character's sense of joy in her crimefighting.

Essential difference: the comic Batgirl was not easily captured by villains while she squirmed and whined.

 

[The Old Mixer]

"Jet Ace"--The George Reeves Clark fakes a totally lame-o classic comics-style panic attack to get out of the room. Seems like he'd just draw to much attention to himself like that. How about "I have to see what's happening"?

 

[Christopher]

"The Man Who Could Read Minds" had a pretty clever caper on the villains' part. Meanwhile, Superman was seriously off his game. Why did he let the bad guys' car get away? After saving Jimmy and Lois, he could've gone after the guys who shot at them and overtaken them in two seconds. There was no reason for him to let them get away, except to prolong the story.

And I'm torn between getting frustrated that we spend so much time with Jimmy and Lois instead of Clark and being amused at Jack Larson's antics.

In "Jet Ace," I was amused that the Daily Blade reporter's name was Steve Martin, and I was planning to make a joke here about how he'd end up in Japan in a year or two to report on Godzilla's attack. But I guess he's going to be spending a number of years in jail after this, so that's not likely to happen. He didn't look much like Raymond Burr, either. I wasn't quite clear on what his motive was. Was he trying to extract secrets about military aircraft to sell to a foreign power?

I liked the subtle touch in the climax where Clark reached a hand in front of Chris White to catch the bullet.

 

[Morpheus 02]

Are we SERIOUSLY arguing the seriousness of Batman? The fighting wasn't that much worse than the contemporary Star Trek (Kirk's hand-in-hand hits didn't seem that much more effective than what we saw in Batman)

I think Batgirl was just fine, considering the era. I never noticed before that Batgirl never punched anyone. In tonight's episodes, she seemed to hold her own pretty well. She whacked the Penguin & i think someone else with an object, and did lots of kicks and jumps. She's no less effective than Robin.

Her attitude made her seem pretty smart -- an equal to Batman. Yvonne Craig did a great job with her...and the wig seemed a little more plausible in terms of hiding her identity.


ANd speaking of ME TV's Saturday....no comment on WOnderWOman?

Man, those stories.....they're really bad. And poor Steve Trevor go regulated to glorified cameos by the third season.

However,it's also clear that Lynda Carter was a perfect Wonder WOman, and the oNLY reason why the show lasted as long as it did. She really ought to be cast as Hippolyta, even if it's just a for short cameo.

Superman & Wonder WOman make me realize how necessary the comic book villains are to making the story exciting.

 

[The Old Mixer]

And speaking of Wonder Woman...there's Admiral Jarok sporting some 70s hair!

 

[Christopher]

ANd speaking of ME TV's Saturday....no comment on WOnderWOman?

I'm waiting until it cycles around to the beginning again, which should be in six weeks.

But looking at the episode list, it looks like there's a weird sort of mini-theme in the titles of the next few episodes: "The Girl With a Gift for Disaster," "The Boy Who Knew Her Secret" (Parts 1 & 2), and "The Man Who Could Not Die." Although "The Phantom of the Roller Coaster" comes before that last one in production order, so I guess it's accidental.

 

[The Old Mixer]

"The Phantom of the Roller Coaster"

ETA: It's the Double-Dog Red Alert!

 

[JD]

And speaking of Wonder Woman...there's Admiral Jarok sporting some 70s hair!

Yeah, I recognized his voice right away.
I've been enjoying the WW episodes. It is cheesy, but so were most of these kinds of shows of that era.

 

[The Old Mixer]

My adult self just can't get into the show...but I usually have it on in the background.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Kryptonite tonight. I wonder who Superman got as his Secret Santa...?

 

[Christopher]

Also worth noting: Tonight, Batman cycles back around to the series premiere, "Hi Diddle Riddle"/"Smack in the Middle." I think I want to see that. It'll hold me over until I can afford the DVD or Blu-Ray set.

 

[The Old Mixer]

So, the odd thing about the Kryptonite episode...it seems that Kryptonite in connection with Superman is a new thing, not a carry-over from a previous medium. But Krypton is treated as a known, observable planet, and Kryptonite as a substance that's known to have come from that planet, yet it's only a theory that Superman might come from there, not public knowledge...which further raises the question of whether Superman even knows that he comes from Krypton in this continuity.

OTOH, there's a reference to Clark and Superman having been involved in a case "years ago", which suggests that the characters have more history than just the timeframe covered by the TV show.

Batman right now--The Riddler has Robin unconscious, makes a mold of his face...but doesn't bother to unmask him.

 

[Christopher]

Superman: "Shot in the Dark" is a lot of fun -- lots of lively, clever dialogue. And we get what seems to be the first use of Superman's heat vision in the show, with his setting off of the burglar alarm. Although it wasn't called heat vision until 1961. Starting in the comics in 1949 or so, it was established that he could focus his x-ray vision to generate heat, and that must be what he was doing here. Still, it's something I don't think he ever did in the surviving radio episodes, or in the series to this point.

The kryptonite episode wasn't as good. All of King's "checkers" moves and the convoluted logic behind them were ridiculous. Superman's lack of concern at the anomaly of feeling pain from a bullet hit was implausible. Mainly it was notable to learn that it wasn't continuing forward from the radio series' established knowledge of kryptonite. This is the first time in the TV show's universe that Jimmy or Lois found out about it. Odd that it's synthetic, then.

And once again, Superman is directly, if accidentally, responsible for the bad guys getting killed. I suppose the idea was that he threw the pipe so hard it glowed from air friction -- that's the only way they could've seen it at night. But what are the odds that he'd throw it in just the right direction for them to see it? And why would the driver be so distracted by it? That was just weak and contrived. I'd expected better from a Jackson Gillis script.

I suppose the shot of Clark's x-ray vision reassembling the torn-up note was meant to symbolize his mentally piecing the words together from the fragments. But I couldn't help thinking, "Hey, it's the debut of his rebuild-the-Great-Wall-of-China vision from The Quest for Peace!"


Moving on to Batman, I kind of like how the pilot is more serious in tone than the show later became, playing it more straight in some ways. Some of the scenes, like the one where Bruce, Dick, and Alfred were reflecting on the impact of the Riddler's lawsuit, played like straight drama. (And it's directed by Robert Butler, the same man who directed Star Trek's first pilot.)

But there's no way the Riddler's lawsuit should've stuck, is there? He clearly entrapped Batman and Robin, so he'd have no basis for claiming to be the victim.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Me-TV has announced their new schedule that starts Jan. 1. It looks like the Super Sci-Fi Saturday lineup is staying put, but they'll also be showing Superman at 4 and 4:30 EST on weekdays. Don't know if this will affect the sequencing of the Saturday episodes, but we'll see.

 

[Christopher]

Whew, I was worried there for a moment.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Perfect timing for me to miss it during the week, too.

 

[Greg Cox]

Sadly, our local affiliate is still refusing to air BATMAN. Talk about diabolical bat-villainy.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I think Batgirl was just fine, considering the era. I never noticed before that Batgirl never punched anyone. In tonight's episodes, she seemed to hold her own pretty well. She whacked the Penguin & i think someone else with an object, and did lots of kicks and jumps. She's no less effective than Robin.

Robin aggressively fought adult males, using all manner of fighting, including a few scenes utilizing Ward's martial arts training. Batgirl's molasses-slow kicks and conveniently placed planks would have been completely out of place in the fight choreography of seasons 1 & 2.

Her attitude made her seem pretty smart -- an equal to Batman.

No one extolling the value of women's intuition and tea leaves is the intellectual equal of a person said to be a extraordinary detective with years of experience.

ANd speaking of ME TV's Saturday....no comment on WOnderWOman?

The series should have continued in the world War Two setting, as it provided opportunities for her to stand out as an unusual force in the globally overwhelming trials of the war. The shift to the modern day stories ultimately took a quick turn for the worst, after a fre genuinely interesting stories, but again, WW was better off in the war era.