Newmar: Joan Collins played it too straight

[crazedvillain]

Yes, it seems they intentionally wrote the dialog straight forward in these episodes so it played like the traditional action suspense shows of the time. I think "Zelda The Great" and "A Riddle A Day Keeps The Riddler Away" did the same thing. Also, a lot of night time scenes.

[weirdkorey]

The Season 1 writing style was definately the best writing of the series & the reason the show became a success. While there are still several episodes throughout the 2nd & 3rd seasons that definately stand out as brilliant, let's face the fact that if the writing from the start had been season 3 quality the show never would have made it past season 1.

Yes, it seems they intentionally wrote the dialog straight forward in these episodes so it played like the traditional action suspense shows of the time. I think "Zelda The Great" and "A Riddle A Day Keeps The Riddler Away" did the same thing. Also, a lot of night time scenes.

You brought up a good point that somehow I overlooked before. Several scenes from season 1 were at night time. When you look back at a lot of the 50s & 60s Batman comics that were used as guidelines for certain scripts, this was also the case. Season 1 as a whole was basically a very successful attempt at truly capturing the comic characters at that time as they were written in the comics. However Season 2 episodes began slowly veering away from that & turned into more of a parody of the comics, focusing more on being funny & less on providing an entertaining story. By season 3 with the budget cuts & extra cast members the show was mostly doomed because the writing only got worse because the writers constantly fought with how to tell a good story AND give all the characters adequate screen time. Some season 3 episodes were able to kind of pull it off such as the Siren episode or "The Unkindest Tut Of All" which is a brilliantly written 1 part episode, but most others fell short. Don't get me wrong I love all 120 episodes & the movie & I have seen them all countless times, however I watch season 1 episodes more than the others because they are just more entertaining as a whole.

[crazedvillain]

"Instant Freeze" I would add to the list of episodes where the dialog was written more straight forward, as I called it. There's that great night shot of Batman and Robin in the Batmobile answering the phone call from Gordon.

[Pengy]

I think Newmar is way off. Both Collins and Bankhead camped it up, just not too much. I think that's why I enjoy their performances, especially Collins'. They knew how to do the camp in just the right amount while still making great villains who felt like a threat.

[High C]

Just wanted to say that I wasn't trying to denigrate Julie Newmar and I hope nobody took it that way. I think she created an iconic character and her place in TV and pop-culture history is quite secure, and based on what people on this board say, she seems to be a terrific person.

But I feel she seems to have grasped onto the fallacy, for whatever reason(s), that the show was a comedy, and I don't understand that, given she wanted Catwoman to be a teasing, shadowy figure at the beginning. I guess time and distance can change people's opinions. As I've said multiple times, I preferred Julie as the ruthless villainess of her first appearance, as opposed to what the character became. And it's not just the lovesick schoolgirl routine that bugs me, but all the winking asides to the camera in season 2. Although I guess the writers can be blamed for that.

[Progress Pigment]

The Siren episode, I thought, was incredibly well done. Adam West got in a lot of cowl-less time, which he tended to love, and Robin & Batgirl actually showed a bit of chemistry together. And Joan Collins as the Siren really worked in a surreal 3rd season kind of way. Her character was a nice throwback to Zelda the Great and Marsha, Queen of Diamonds. I don't know how she could have played it any better.