Post Here Whenever You're Watching Batman

General goings on in the 1966 Batman World

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The Boss
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Post Here Whenever You're Watching Batman

Post by The Boss »

A few hours ago I started another marathon of watching the TV series (I'm currently up to, "A Riddle A Day Keeps The Riddler Away" ) and began to wonder how often others actually watch. So I thought I would make a game out of it and see how often we actually watch. Post Here whenever you are watching the TV series, the movie, the 77 animated series, ROTCC, Return to the Batcave, Legends of the Superheroes or any other variation of Batman 66. Or even if you are reading the comic adventures. How big of a part of your life is Batman?
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John Mack
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Re: Post Here Whenever You're Watching Batman

Post by John Mack »

It's 2:53 am and I just got home from work and am reading and posting to the board, but I'm just casual fan :lol:
Music. BAT! Music.
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Ben Bentley
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Re: Post Here Whenever You're Watching Batman

Post by Ben Bentley »

This thread reminded of a couple of topics from the old board which in retrospect prove additionally interesting given that those threads were prior to an official home release of the show.

Rather than arbitrarily informing each other when we're watching the TV show, perhaps it could be fun to revisit the questions from this thread from ten years ago: http://www.66batman.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/Y ... 116566/all After all we have lots of members that have joined us in the last decade! :)
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Batman42
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Re: Post Here Whenever You're Watching Batman

Post by Batman42 »

i watch a couple of episodes a night and on the weekend i have a Batman marathon where i put one of the discs on (i'm onto the last one of season 1) and watch all the episodes on that particular disc

Regards Andrew
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AndyFish
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Re: Post Here Whenever You're Watching Batman

Post by AndyFish »

Good suggestion Ben- I remember those questions and it would be nice to see some fresh insight.

I also think the concept of this thread is interesting, because it offers some insight into how much each of us is into the show or all things Batman '66.

While I own a Batman cowl (several actually), some original poster art and have some personal letters here from Adam himself and a lot of TV Batmobiles I consider myself a casual fan. I watch the movie more than I do any particular episodes of the TV series.

I think the last time I watched an episode was back when it was airing on MeTV-- since they moved it to Midnight and Boston messes with the schedule I don't get to see it any longer.

I usually go through things in cycles while I'm working or at the gym-- this winter is was KOLCHAK-- I watched everything from the movies all the way through all 20 episodes. Same goes for several old movie serials and movie series like Tarzan, Charlie Chan, Abbott & Costello and the Universal Monsters which include ALL the films in the SHOCK! package they put out for TV in the 50s and 60s.

Batman will eventually rise to the top of the view pile but for now with the exception of the '66 Comics I'm on a Bat-Break.
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Progress Pigment
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Re: Post Here Whenever You're Watching Batman

Post by Progress Pigment »

My interest in "Challenge of Superheroes" as been re-ignited lately. :shock: It's struck me how easily this thing could have been turned into something fantastic.

West was actually in more muscular shape at 51 than he had been on the series! Look at this WB uploaded segment. He's in better shape here than any Batman until Christian Bale!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Spi9g6F2tlQ[/youtube]

The writing alone could have fixed this mess. So I've been watching the DVD & also found this pretty nifty piece about the shows on youtube. Nice they mention how Adam West had hardly changed from the time of the series, especially compared to Burt Ward & Frank Gorshin. But they hated the iguana cowl! You can see the whole thing here.

http://haphazardstuff.com/LegendsOfTheSuperheroes

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUTCePDSYy8[/youtube]
Next week, the Dynamic Duo meets the Clock King!
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Progress Pigment
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Re: Post Here Whenever You're Watching Batman

Post by Progress Pigment »

I somehow repeated this post. :roll:
Next week, the Dynamic Duo meets the Clock King!
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Progress Pigment
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Re: Post Here Whenever You're Watching Batman

Post by Progress Pigment »

:roll:
Next week, the Dynamic Duo meets the Clock King!
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The Boss
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Re: Post Here Whenever You're Watching Batman

Post by The Boss »

Just got home and resumed my Batman marathon with episode 13, "The Thirteenth Hat" which saw the first appearance of The Mad Hatter. After several weeks of tough searching for information on the upcoming "Batman: The Caped Crusaders vs Two Face" I found myself drained and needed a refill of Batman so I put in the first disk and plan to keep watching.
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The Boss
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Re: Post Here Whenever You're Watching Batman

Post by The Boss »

Progress Pigment wrote: Tue Feb 28, 2017 3:28 pm My interest in "Challenge of Superheroes" as been re-ignited lately. :shock: It's struck me how easily this thing could have been turned into something fantastic.

West was actually in more muscular shape at 51 than he had been on the series! Look at this WB uploaded segment. He's in better shape here than any Batman until Christian Bale!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Spi9g6F2tlQ[/youtube]

The writing alone could have fixed this mess. So I've been watching the DVD & also found this pretty nifty piece about the shows on youtube. Nice they mention how Adam West had hardly changed from the time of the series, especially compared to Burt Ward & Frank Gorshin. But they hated the iguana cowl! You can see the whole thing here.

http://haphazardstuff.com/LegendsOfTheSuperheroes

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUTCePDSYy8[/youtube]
I personally am a huge fan of Legends of the Superheroes. I agree that not only COULD the specials have been better but they still CAN.

With today's technology it would be so easy to make better versions with simple post production methods. One day I might even create a thread detailing what changes I would make (I've been thinking about this for over 20 years) but for now I'll just mention some obvious basic changes.

1)I would start out by removing the laugh track save for a few key audience reactions on The Roast. Since there was supposed to be a live audience present it would make sense for there to be some crowd noise. However it would be highly reduced and the crowd would never laugh at the Superheroes.

2)Second, I would change the music using the soundtrack from the series. By ridding the films of the laugh track the moody music switch might help to alleviate some of the overt silliness and help the jokes come off as campiness reminiscent of the TV series. At least to 3rd season tolerably.

3) Add Batfight words. The fight at the end of The Challenge is the most obvious place but there are a few other area where they would work as well. I'll save the details for another thread.

4) Fix Batman's cowl. While it doesn't effect the story at all the "iguana cowl" as you called it, does present quite a distraction that only takes away from the character's (and the films') credibility. This would take CGI. Now, while it would be possible to make the cowl look just like the TV series, since this cowl is wider it would require the frame by frame painting of the background overtop of the cowl's excess material and make it match perfectly both in color and focus to the actual background that would have been visual through the original cowl. This would be incredibly painstaking and expensive.

An alternative would be to blend the cowl into the cape so that it appears to be one piece (like in the comics). While it won't be a perfect match to the series cowl it will at least prevent the distraction of watching it flop all over the place.

5) Replace scenes in The Roast. In The Challenge a large amount of focus is given to Batman. Approximately 15 minutes of screen time is given to Batman and another 10 to his arch rival The Riddler (excluding times when they are on screen but in the background). That doesn't even count the time dedicated to Solomon Grundy who never appeared on the TV series but is a major rival of Batman in The comics. For a film with so many heroes and villains this is good.

The Roast however only dedicates only 5½ minutes to Batman and Robin (again excluding the time they sit quietly in the background). Unfortunately Frank Gorshin - who could have really added a lot of fun and energy to this film - does not appear. The trick here is to make Batman more relevant but cutting out some scenes that does not include Batman (or anything to the film) and replace it with more Batman footage which I have specially picked out and will talk more about in another thread.

In the meantime episode 17, "True or False Face" featuring one of my favorite villains, False Face is about to begin.
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Progress Pigment
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Re: Post Here Whenever You're Watching Batman

Post by Progress Pigment »

I respectfully disagree with almost everything you said! I'd definitely lose the laugh track. The writing is the thing. I'd have made it more dramatic & serious. More like the Shazam/Isis series. Hell, I'd add Isis! She could have fronted for Wonder Woman. Black Canary and the Huntress were little more than scenery. I'd have Adam West doing Bruce Wayne early on. Make the plot better, and cut the humor 100%. For me the soundtrack was fine. I'd cut the "Roast" completely and add that to the length of the story. It should have been more like 'Rescue From Gilligan's Island'. An homage to the old series. Not a final embarrassing debacle. I'd cut the idiotic Retired Man thing. I'd have some mention of Batman being an older hero. Burt Ward in his 30's looked ridiculous in the Robin outfit. He just could not pull it off anymore. I'd make him Nightwing. Who's costume more resembled Batman's. And I wouldn't have aired it against Mork & Mindy & The Waltons! It was basically dead on arrival.

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The Boss
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Re: Post Here Whenever You're Watching Batman

Post by The Boss »

But... you can't change the writing. It is what it is. I seriously doubt that there is any unused Isis footage out there that could be added in let alone footage that would fit these adventures. All the changes I mentioned can actually be made. These and several more highly detailed changes would make these specials worthly of being added to the TV series. I've even timed them to find the appropriate spot for the cliff hanger. It's amazing how well the timing coincidentally works out. Almost if they planned on splitting them into 30 minute cliffhanger episodes at some point. I even came up with the perfect titles for them. Oh yes, this would be so much better than nay sayers could ever envision.

Judging by your comments of wanting it very dramatic with no humor and wanting Adam and Burt to play characters that didn't even exists yet (older Batman and Nightwing) I get the impression that you are not a fan of the TV series. Well, to each his own I guess. My vision is to make them more like the TV show so that they can finally find an audience and Batfans can see additional episodes (presented properly) of their favorite series.

But back to the point of this thread, after taking a break for a couple of hours I resumed my marathon. Tonight I watched episodes 13-24 and saw The Mad Hatter, The Joker, False Face, The Catwoman, The Penguin and The Riddler.
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Progress Pigment
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Re: Post Here Whenever You're Watching Batman

Post by Progress Pigment »

Oh, sorry I thought you were speculating how it could have been different. Not re-editing it as it exists.

Behold, Burt Ward as Nightwing.
http://13thdimension.com/holy-flash-for ... nightwing/
Judging by your comments of wanting it very dramatic with no humor and wanting Adam and Burt to play characters that didn't even exists yet (older Batman and Nightwing) I get the impression that you are not a fan of the TV series.
That's a bit of a narrow view. I'm primarily a fan of the first season of Batman, several of the more well-written 2nd season ones (Clock-King!) and enjoy a few 3rd season episodes here & there. I enjoy some of the "dumb" ones, but tend to dislike the ones that go that extra mile to make Batman look stupid. A Batman TV series/Batman comics fan has had to walk a fine line. I was one of the brave few defending the show in comics shops when the Tim Burton film came out! Kevin Smith likes to talk about a friend of his who did that, and it drove him crazy. :) Like a lot of people at around his & our age, Smith went from loving the show as his introduction to Batman as a tot, to hating it his teens, and back to loving it again now. I'd have liked to have seen LSH filmed almost exactly like the 'Super Friends' cartoon, but with '66 Batman aspects thrown in. Fun but serious. They had all the elements there to do it, except the writing/directing. Sinestro and Solomon Grundy looked like they stepped right out of the comics.
Next week, the Dynamic Duo meets the Clock King!
robinboyblunderer
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Re: Post Here Whenever You're Watching Batman

Post by robinboyblunderer »

Progress Pigment wrote: Wed Mar 01, 2017 9:40 am
That's a bit of a narrow view. I'm primarily a fan of the first season of Batman, several of the more well-written 2nd season ones (Clock-King!) and enjoy a few 3rd season episodes here & there. I enjoy some of the "dumb" ones, but tend to dislike the ones that go that extra mile to make Batman look stupid. Sinestro and Solomon Grundy looked like they stepped right out of the comics.
Sinestro and Grundy looked good, actually most of the costumes did and the actors and actresses did their best, no complaints there.

Yes, making Batman stupid, ineffectual, befuddled, I really dislike that as the show went on. The charades scene from the Roast is another terrible extension of that, speaking of...re-watching it reminded me how utterly terrible this whole thing was. Bad sub-vaudeville humor, the tediously long chase scene, Sinestro in drag. Jeez, how terrible is this thing?

The only things I like are getting to see Adam and Burt in costume (I think they both pulled it off well), Gorshin as the Riddler and the final fight scene, particularly Giganta and Robin and Batman getting to punch out the Riddler one last time. Since he was the first live action villain they faced it was fitting in a way that he was also the last.

Aside from those scant minutes this whole thing is awful, boring and unfunny.
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AndyFish
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Re: Post Here Whenever You're Watching Batman

Post by AndyFish »

I think you can be a fan of the show and dislike the devolvement into outright parody-- the SUPERHEROES specials were the epitome of the lack of respect Hollywood had for superheroes at that point. By comparison the SUPER FRIENDS was Shakespearean.

I thought Adam looked great in the suit, but Burt and Frank only made me feel sorry for them. Frank especially should have gone with the jacket and pants version over the tights, especially since the ones he wore were on a quality level with most high school productions.

I'm completely with Pigment here, first season some of the second and bits of the third are what draws me to the show.

The specials would absolutely benefit from the removal of the laugh track, made especially annoying because there's little here anyone over the age of six would actually find funny. But unless you could go back in time, fire the writers and the producers and bring in people who respected the material in the first place this thing is a hopeless waste of time.

And yes, we're veering way off topic here.
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