What you found odd about the show but now understand

[SprangFan]

I wouldn't know the term "Dutch tilt" until much later, but even as a kid I understood that the scenes with the crooks were shot at an angle to convey a "warped" POV and create a sense of unease and disorientation. Compared to a lot of zooms, tilts, spins, light flashes and color changes going on in scores of "psychadelic" productions I grew up watching (in the early 70s), it was pretty tame stuff (and a nice relief from sea-sickness!).

Golddragon71, it's interesting that you favored the Astin model Riddler as a kid. I have to say I really didn't like Gorshin's take, either, when I was little, though now that I'm older I love it. I think maybe he was just a little TOO crazy...as in scary crazy. Plus with that manic laugh and totally unpredictably wild and random physical tics I thought he was horning in on Joker territory. Certainly the character never came across as nearly so energetic and dynamic in the comics.

Okay, so another mystery I used to wonder about: how come Alfred never tried to disguise his voice when he answered the bat-phone? Surely even a slow study like Commissioner Gordon would notice both Bruce and Batman employ a helper with such unique voice and accent for Gotham City.

[richey88]

Kind of like Clark Kent / Superman. BW got off lucky when one of Riddler's River Rats showed up at police HQ dressed as Batman while Bruce Wayne was visiting, as I always wondered why Commish never figured it out w/ Alfred and all. I always found it baffling that whatever tool was needed was always in the utility belt. Robin's mask isn't much of a disguise either.

Julie always caused curious stirrings in my utility belt Cool thread!!

[John Mack]

Glad you all are digging the thread.

There is an episode where Gordon is talking to Alfred and realized he was the voice on the Batphone, but it's been too many years since I've seen it. I'm sure someone here will know which episode it is.

You know, for some weird reason, I never found the whole utility belt thing odd. I just went with it. I guess I was an odd kid LOL. I questioned somethings and was completely oblivious to other things such as Lee being Catwoman in the movie.

BTW, Batman uses a Batdrone in an episode YEARS BEFORE it was popular. I wonder if Batman....nah!!

John

[Gleeps, it's Batman]

There is an episode where Gordon is talking to Alfred and realized he was the voice on the Batphone, but it's been too many years since I've seen it. I'm sure someone here will know which episode it is.

BTW, Batman uses a Batdrone in an episode YEARS BEFORE it was popular. I wonder if Batman....nah!!

John

Well, there's a scene in Marsha's Scheme Of Diamonds with Alfred in Commissioner Gordon's office, and Gordon says, "NOW I know where I've heard that voice," and you think he's recognized him as the voice on the Batphone. Even Alfred's face shows he's afraid of that very outcome, but Gordon continues, "Aren't you Alfred the Wayne butler?" to which Alfred replies that he is.

Haha, yeah, I was really surprised by the Batdrone when I first saw whichever episode it was last year. I honestly remembered nothing about it from 35 years earlier. Each episode was a new adventure for me last year, like watching it for the first time. What fun! Batman seemed ahead of his time with a lot of gadgets.

[Jaws63]

There is an episode where Gordon is talking to Alfred and realized he was the voice on the Batphone, but it's been too many years since I've seen it. I'm sure someone here will know which episode it is.

BTW, Batman uses a Batdrone in an episode YEARS BEFORE it was popular. I wonder if Batman....nah!!

John

I think the scene you are referring to is in "The entrancing Dr. Cassandra". The Commissioner and Chief O'Hara, were in a quandary of what to do with the cardboard cutouts which were apparently Batman, Robin and Batgirl' Chief O'Hara quotes "I can't believe what I see, but I believe in what I feel...And I feel their pulse. O'Hara suggests to Gorden, "What about that voice that often answers the batphone, maybe he can help whoever he is."

Does this answer your question?

[clavierankh]

The episode is Wail Of The Siren. Gordon sees Alfred in the Batcave after getting out of the trunkof the Batmobile He says "You're Alfred, Bruce Wayne's butler. And that voice, the same voice that often answers the Batphone!" Fortunately he forgets when the Siren's spell wears off.

[John Mack]

Yes, the Siren episode is the one I was thinking of. Thanks.

John

[Gleeps, it's Batman]

Ah, I've only seen the Siren episode once so far, but that scene does ring a bell now that it was mentioned.

[clavierankh]

Maybe it's not so surprising that Gordon didn't recognize Alfred's voice.

To give you an example. All my life I've seen character actor Parley Baer in countless TV shows and heard him in on old radio shows I collect. When he passed away I read in his obituary that he was the voice of Ernie Keebler. I don't know how many Keebler commercials I saw in my life but I never made the connection. When I read it in his obituary I thought, "Of course I should have realized."

It's like in the Siren episode. When Gordon saw him in the Batcave he made the connection.

[High C]

The episode is Wail Of The Siren. Gordon sees Alfred in the Batcave after getting out of the trunkof the Batmobile He says "You're Alfred, Bruce Wayne's butler. And that voice, the same voice that often answers the Batphone!" Un-Fortunately he forgets when the Siren's spell wears off.

Fixed!

Sorry, a force greater than myself compelled me to do that.

[Kamdan]

The goofy camera angles got me until Adam explained it because the Bad Guys "were crooked"!
Also why the Riddler only wore the "Suit" Costume 2 times I can remember in the series, it was much cooler than the tights....

I believe Gorshin wore that suit in every episode he appeared in, including the movie, expect for the Ring of Wax episodes. I always wanted to know more about the history behind that suit, because it was an invention of the series.

[STP Swallowthispill]

The thing that always puzzled me was batman would never do anything to harm his old chum but he expects him to "Swallow This Pill" the size of a ping pong ball without choking to death? That is why I chose this as my user name shortened to "STP".

I too spent a lot of time thinking about the costume change when I was young. I envisioned the costume pants just hanging there and the slide into them but no that don't make since how did they undress?
In reality they never reach the bat cave from the study in Wayne manor it was on a different set altogether.

Charles

[Commodore Schmidlapp]

I never understood how the Bat-shield folded up and fit in the utility belt.

[The Revolving Wall]

I find the comments interesting. The thought never even crossed my mind back in the 1960s about different actors playing a given character on Batman because it just happened so often in TV shows then..the two men playing Darrin Stephens, the two women playing Gladys Kravitz...to say nothing of the shows my mother watched during the daytime when a voice would announce "the role of 'whatever her name was' is now being played by 'so and so'" and there she was and we just understood instantly, from what the characters were saying, that this lady was playing whatever her name was...even if she didn't look anything like the other actress.

On the other hand, if it was a new character, the events in the shows always made it clear...like when the characters changed on My Three Sons...otherwise, it was different actor/same character, as with the two cases on Bewitched. So, to me, it was clear that Lee and Eartha were two other actresses playing Catwoman, John Astin was playing the Riddler, and we ended up with three actors who each played the villain, Mr. Freeze.

Of course, it is also true that I loved the guest stars from other shows that my parents had introduced me to -- and so I knew almost all of them from other roles anyway.

[Gernot]

The henchmen increasing in number never really bothered me after I realized the men were always in hiding, supposedly watching out for Batman and Robin's arrival. Joker would only need two at a time to help him out in a certain scene, but when Batman jumped in, he'd yell "Boys! Come quick! ATTACK!"

Also, Batman and Robin would lose the first fight because the villain would plan better for the fight, usually. A lot of times, they thought the Caped Crusaders were dead and when they came in for the fight, the villains were pretty shaken by their survival.