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Which screen version of Batman is your favourite?

Favourite screen Batman?

  • Adam West

    Votes: 18 15.0%
  • Tim Burton

    Votes: 18 15.0%
  • Joel Schumacher

    Votes: 5 4.2%
  • Christian Bale

    Votes: 54 45.0%
  • Other

    Votes: 25 20.8%

  • Total voters
    120
Another vote for Kevin Conroy and Batman: The Animated Series.

I'm playing through the videogame Batman: Arkham Asylum and it's great hearing so many of the voices from B:TAS.
 
I voted for the Tim Burtons. The idea of a caped crusader is fantastic, as others have said, but the stylized and gothic Gotham City creates an equally fantastic setting where it seems plausible. Keaton is great as he plays a tightly-wound, on-the-edge personality who seems like he just might be nuts enough to become a costumed vigilante. Keaton is less effective in the suave, sophisticated playboy part, though, he just seems uncomfortable.

Bale is dull as Bruce Wayne and pretty much a blank as the Batman. Conroy gave a lot more personality than Bale did, IMO. I agree with those who have said that the realism in the Nolan films hurts their plausibility. I liked "Begins" better than TDK, which seemed to me just an attempt to stretch a Batman story frame over a Hong Kong-style action picture.

The best Batmobile, of course, is the 1966 model, that's beyond debate, isn't it?

--Justin
 
The best Batmobile, of course, is the 1966 model, that's beyond debate, isn't it?

--Justin

No. I would argue that the first Batmobile of the modern movies is just as iconic and recognizable. To me personally, that is THE Batmobile (I'm a younger guy though, so that's understandable).
Of course, the original is awesome either way. But it's not beyond debate to argue that the newer one is equally cool. :techman:
 
I like the animated Batmobile most, but it's a little impractical. It's too long. There's no way Batman can park that sucker in a public area.
 
The Burton Batmobile is the most iconic, IMO. But the Adam West one is also pretty good.

But, I think we can all agree that the Schumacer-mobile isn't in the same league.
 
I like the animated Batmobile most, but it's a little impractical. It's too long. There's no way Batman can park that sucker in a public area.


Mental image of Batman driving round and round, trying unsuccessfully to parallel park into spaces, sighing, driving on, looking enviously at a disabled space, wondering if anyone will object ...
 
While intellectually I realize that the two Nolan Bale movies are better made, and that MotP is probably the "best" Batman movie overall (even if a cartoon) in terms of distilling everything that's great about the character into one movie....

Adam West made me a Batman fan for life and, no matter how hard I try, some version of his voice is what I hear every time I read a Batman comic book. And, to this day, I grin like a kid when I watch the old reruns and hear that theme song.

So I had to vote for the 1960s version.

West made a terrific Bruce Wayne - he really brought that air of breeding to the role that no one else did.
Shortly after it came out, I was aching to see a live action version of The Dark Knight Returns, starring West. I think he could have pulled it off!


The only thing the 60's show did was make Batman such a joke, that the property couldn't be done as a movie or a TV show for 35-40 years after the 60's show had ended. I loved it as a kid, but that's where Batman stays-in my memories of being a kid, and little else than that. Adapted like the way it was back in the 60's as you two love it, it would be laughed out of existence and considered a flop. The best version of Batman in the slightly unreal mode you two love so much is now a TV show on the Cartoon Network.
 
^ The 60s show didn't make Batman a joke. It simply followed the way in which the character was depicted in the comics at the time. After his grim origins in the 1930s and 40s, Batman was watered down due to censorship in the comics industry. In the 1950s, he embarked on space adventures and by the 1960s, he'd become the camp caped crusader as depicted in the tv show. The tv show quite naturally adopted the tone and tenor of the comics of the time.
 
^Quite right. The '60s TV series was actually more grounded and less ridiculous than the comics of the time often were.

The problem with Batman and Robin -- well, one of its many problems -- was that it couldn't decide whether to be a dramatic superhero film or a campy farce. It was trying to be both at once and couldn't find a consistent identity.
 
Surprised at all the votes for Bale (decent actor) but perhaps shouldn't be. The only Batman I like is Kingdom Come's so still waiting...
 
^ Yes, it veered between trying to be like the Burton movies and the Adam West series and managed to do neither properly. I'd take the 1966 movie over it any day - at least you know where you stand with it.
 
:drool:George Clooney:drool:

Good actor but thankless in the role, not his fault but the worst screen Batman. I always think that Val Kilmer was my favourite because he sucessfully embodied a believeable millionaire playboy AND superhero
 
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