Did anyone find The First Season of Batman to be not so camp

General goings on in the 1966 Batman World

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AndyFish
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Re: Did anyone find The First Season of Batman to be not so camp

Post by AndyFish »

Resurrecting this old thread as I re-watch Season One; I've always thought the show really had three directions and that if it had maintained the noir and drama to balance out the silliness it wouldn't have had such a dramatic decline in the ratings. The comparison to LOST IN SPACE is both spot on and interesting but for some reason my affection for how that series went remains positive-- I liked how crazy it got and I liked the earlier dramatic episodes-- maybe it was because it was in outer space, maybe because it featured brand new characters, I can't explain it.

With BATMAN, we certainly see elements of what is to come right out of the gate with the first episode when he orders an Orange Juice at the bar, or drunkenly chases after Robin when he's captured by The Riddler. But those sillier aspects were balanced by real drama and an often shadowy atmosphere. In the first Mister Freeze episode there are several scenes shot at night-- and as Neal Adams said when he would revamp Batman in the comics after the series was cancelled simply taking day scenes and making them night worked better for the character. The reason they did less and less of that was that night shoots were more expensive to do.

There are deaths in the first season, Molly in the pilot, Princess Sandra's aid in the Mister Freeze episode (he's frozen and then knocked over and shattered) the two goons in the Zelda episode, all of this added to the drama and kept Batman from being a kiddie show. Yes there are things that would have made a Dad watching along roll his eyes, like Batman defeating Mister Freeze simply by secretly wearing his long underwear.

By Season Two we get a lot jokier-- starting out with The Archer who, unlike The Riddler, The Joker, Bookworm, Mister Freeze and False Face from S1 had zero menace to him. There was still an attempt to give us drama, some of the death traps, like Ma Barker's electric chair, were frightening, but overall the decline had begun, the noir is gone, the drama is drying up and the show becomes cartoony.

Season Three becomes straight comedy-- even though a couple of episodes are personal favorites, overall it's an entirely different show and virtually a parody of Season One.

It's been eye opening to rewatch these now at the age of what would have been a Dad in 1966 rather than as a kid as I originally saw them in the 70s. Adam West was a sort of surrogate father for me when I didn't have one on those afterschool days and I got to tell him so and pay him back doing some work for him in the 90s. But my affection for the show has lessened over the years, and while I think the 60s was THE best period of TV, despite modern classics like BETTER CALL SAUL, BATMAN is a strong part of it but it's closer to the bottom of my top ten list from the era than I would have thought, the dopier aspects of it make me understand why Dad's started turning the show off after the novelty wore off.

It's also interesting (to me anyway) how my opinions have both changed and remained the same, I loved Cesar as The Joker when I was but a wee lad and I still think he's the best villain in the series. I hated The Penguin and King Tut as a boy and today I still don't love The Penguin but I do love Victor's King Tut-- his ad libs are brilliant. I found Aunt Harriet and Robin annoying as a boy and I'm still annoyed with them now. Amazingly, I thought Gorshin's Riddler was just a weak copy of The Joker when I first watched the show but now I can see him as a totally different character and understand Gorshin's using Richard Widmark's crazed killer from KISS OF DEATH (1947) as his inspiration, The Riddler, at least in Season One, is probably the most dangerous of all the Batman villains.

It's been a journey of discovery re-watching these after so many years, and some real surprises both good and bad.
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Ben Bentley
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Re: Did anyone find The First Season of Batman to be not so camp

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AndyFish wrote: Fri Jan 14, 2022 8:08 am Resurrecting this old thread as I re-watch Season One; I've always thought the show really had three directions and that if it had maintained the noir and drama to balance out the silliness it wouldn't have had such a dramatic decline in the ratings. The comparison to LOST IN SPACE is both spot on and interesting but for some reason my affection for how that series went remains positive-- I liked how crazy it got and I liked the earlier dramatic episodes-- maybe it was because it was in outer space, maybe because it featured brand new characters, I can't explain it.

...

It's been a journey of discovery re-watching these after so many years, and some real surprises both good and bad.
I'm really enjoying your takes as you re-watch the show, that's something i've always gotten a kick out of on our message board, getting to see the same show we all know and love through a slightly different lens.

Also, Dozier wasn't kidding when he said the worst is yet to come...
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Chuck Williams
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Re: Did anyone find The First Season of Batman to be not so camp

Post by Chuck Williams »

I agree with you 100%.

The first season works on every level for me.
The humor focused on the comic "world" more.
When an actor played to the camera, it lost it's funny quality in my opinion.

Even in the pilot when Adam enters the disco, the delivery of " I shouldn't wish to attract attention" was so tongue in cheek it wasn't as funny as it could have been.

I can understand how holding all that back was so difficult to do over the run of the show.
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Larry A.
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Re: Did anyone find The First Season of Batman to be not so camp

Post by Larry A. »

I have to agree with what everyone has said so far, but I'll go a bit farther: Barbra Gordon as Batgirl had shown up in the comics by then and was doing quite well. I can live with the purple batsuit etc., but NOT the way She was treated in the show! I know the late YC (may She R.I.P.), felt that the producers were correct in the way they portrayed BG, however, I have have to wonder if YC wasn't trying not to talk bad about the powers that be for whatever reason. I enjoy watching B.g's high kicks and all, but stil............
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Ricky
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Re: Did anyone find The First Season of Batman to be not so camp

Post by Ricky »

I’ve always felt that season three is like watching a different show than the first two seasons. Season 1 is certainly dark with humour as an undertone but as season 2 came into swing the show became self aware and played too much to the humour and hence why the show for me is always referred to as being “camp”. The third season as you say is a parody of season 1, that’s a fantastic analogy.
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AndyFish
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Re: Did anyone find The First Season of Batman to be not so camp

Post by AndyFish »

I'm with you Larry, I wish they had let Batgirl go full Emma Peel rather than some kind of variation of dance/fighting. The fault lies in the writing and the direction of the show-- Dozier didn't care by the 3rd season, he was just trying to get to the magic syndication number and it shows in the quality.
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Larry A.
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Re: Did anyone find The First Season of Batman to be not so camp

Post by Larry A. »

Andy Fish. I totally agree with You. dozier was in it for the numbers. Sadly, there was still a lot of what would become the nonsense dance/fighting in the pilot. YC's reasoning about the pilot cowl cutting into Her face may have been true, but imho, cutting it back into a curve was just the start of the nonsense. It only took 5 minutes to plump out the facial "V's that Yvonne was complaining about when I tried the copy I made of the pilot mask on my friend who volunteered. I'd have loved to Batgirl behave on TV as She did in the comics. On the other hand, that would have meant that AW and BW would have had to have a much more strenuous fight choreography to keep up with Her.
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JWLJN
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Re: Did anyone find The First Season of Batman to be not so camp

Post by JWLJN »

Was never a comic book guy. Even as a kid discovering the show my order was 3 - 2 - 1. Bring on the Bat Laughs.
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High C
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Re: Did anyone find The First Season of Batman to be not so camp

Post by High C »

I think the key, as Scott once pointed out in one of our Video Bat-Chat rewatches, was that the tone changed during the season once the show got on the air and there was feedback from reviews, word of mouth, Dozier's Hollywood cronies, etc. I think that's when the camp gets amped.

As I've noted, this Jan. 27, 1966 memo from Dozier to Horwitz is a turning point.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/smghrcl8phmv1 ... 6.pdf?dl=0

For instance, he talks about using the Batmobile more. I wonder if this is why they retconned away the plot point in the pilot (which made sense in its original form) of having an anti-theft system. It was just more fun to have villains steal it, Dozier decided.

Good idea to resurrect this one, Andy.
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Lou Szabo
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Re: Did anyone find The First Season of Batman to be not so camp

Post by Lou Szabo »

Season 1 is my favorite because it was more "serious" to both my 7 year old self, and my adult self. It was plausible and mostly the season I like to watch.
Season 2 - the villains were not as threatening, but was typical Hollywood - we need to change things to change things. Still love Catwoman and King Tut.
Season 3 is a Saturday morning live action show.
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Mr. Glee
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Re: Did anyone find The First Season of Batman to be not so camp

Post by Mr. Glee »

High C wrote: Tue Feb 08, 2022 3:52 am As I've noted, this Jan. 27, 1966 memo from Dozier to Horwitz is a turning point.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/smghrcl8phmv1 ... 6.pdf?dl=0
From item #5 on that memo: "I would say our overall content should approximate 70 to 75 per cent action, suspense and excitement, and 25 to 30 per cent humor, camp, or whatever we wish to call it."

That sounds like a winning formula to me, but I'd say they'd lost it by the time they made the feature film, which is more like 90 per cent humor or camp, with maybe 10 per cent action et al.
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Ben Bentley
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Re: Did anyone find The First Season of Batman to be not so camp

Post by Ben Bentley »

Mr. Glee wrote: Sat Feb 12, 2022 6:15 pm
High C wrote: Tue Feb 08, 2022 3:52 am As I've noted, this Jan. 27, 1966 memo from Dozier to Horwitz is a turning point.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/smghrcl8phmv1 ... 6.pdf?dl=0
From item #5 on that memo: "I would say our overall content should approximate 70 to 75 per cent action, suspense and excitement, and 25 to 30 per cent humor, camp, or whatever we wish to call it."

That sounds like a winning formula to me, but I'd say they'd lost it by the time they made the feature film, which is more like 90 per cent humor or camp, with maybe 10 per cent action et al.
Agreed! As Scott as aptly put it: Batman jumped the shark when it bit him :lol:
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