TO THE BATPOLES podcast #93: The Tale of “The Cat’s Tale”

General goings on in the 1966 Batman World

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bat-rss
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TO THE BATPOLES podcast #93: The Tale of “The Cat’s Tale”

Post by bat-rss »

Image

As we saw a few episodes back, in 1965 Peggy Shaw turned in a script called Fashions in Crime, based on the 1948 comics story of the same name, and beset by script elements that would work in a comic but would be tough to film.

Shaw's script was apparently handed to writer Stephen Kandel to rework. The resulting 1966 work, The Cat's Tale, solves many of the problems of Shaw's script, in part by totally abandoning it halfway through. Still, it ultimately wasn't used. In this episode, Tim & Paul compare the two scripts & consider whether Kandel's script also had fatal flaws.

http://tothebatpoles.libsyn.com/093-the ... -cats-tale
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Dan E Kool
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Re: TO THE BATPOLES podcast #93: The Tale of “The Cat’s Tale”

Post by Dan E Kool »

Quality content as always, Young Bros.

In reply to Paul's statement about Season 3 being more campy than earlier seasons - I feel like we've been here before (but it's very possible I imagined it). Either way, it's my opinion (or at least an opinion that I may or may not have stolen from Paul and am now repeating back to him...) that the first season is "pretend" camp. As we get to the end of the second season and definitely into third, the show becomes "real" camp.

The term I remember Paul using was camping, with an emphasis on the ING. That is, the first season has the aesthetic of camp, but because Semple and West et al were aware of what they were doing, it isn't true camp. Another term for the style of the first season might be "meta" camp.

I would argue that by the third season the writers (as well as the actors to a certain extent) are trying so hard to be Campy that they fail and are no longer "camping." It's at this point that, through a combination of unintentional gay innuendo, shoddy set designs and other cost cutting measures, that the show comes closer to being the true camp that it was emulating in the first season. The action and plot is lacking, the jokes fall flat, but as a Batman audience we continue to cheer for the heroes and boo at the villains not unlike the way that Camp audiences enjoyed old serials and Ed Wood movies. Which isn't to say that there aren't many who enjoy Season three for their own sentimental reasons, but episodes like Surf's Up can also be enjoyed in spite of itself - true camp.

Now might be a good time to mention that I'm not actually a Camp Expert... I just play one on TV.
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mwilbury
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Re: TO THE BATPOLES podcast #93: The Tale of “The Cat’s Tale”

Post by mwilbury »

Wow, thanks for sharing the photos of the Tokyo Bat-Building. It's hard to believe I've never seen or heard about that. The exterior seems to be a well-produced extension of the '89 marketing blitz.
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High C
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Re: TO THE BATPOLES podcast #93: The Tale of “The Cat’s Tale”

Post by High C »

I must admit, you guys noticed a lot of little things that I apparently missed while reading it. Well-done. Many of those were good observations on minor things that wouldn't have worked when filming.

You can send my half a 'd'oh' prize to the Grotto Arms Hotel. I likely will be checking in there to meet a friend. I recognized Paul's inimitable impressionist stylings as he paid homage to Terry Moore's somehow non-Emmy winning performance as Venus.

I liked Tim's line about the writers early in the run being refugees from the 21st century who figured CGI can fix anything. Paul's rendition of 'Cat Strap Fever' also was enjoyable.

Tim made a good point about some ideas already being in other scripts. Perhaps that's why they finally scrapped this idea.
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mattman
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Re: TO THE BATPOLES podcast #93: The Tale of “The Cat’s Tale”

Post by mattman »

Wow great article. And another 4th season myth nail in the coffin as mentioned
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