TO THE BATPOLES #172: “Mr Zero”: A Dozier/Semple dead end

[bat-rss]

In 1965, William Dozier and Lorenzo Semple weren't only working together on Batman. When Dozier brought Batman to Semple's attention at a Madrid meeting in May '65, the main purpose of the meeting was to discuss another possible series, called MR ZERO.
This time, we take a look at a 40-page MR ZERO presentation document Semple wrote to describe the series. What does it tell us about possible casting, changes in thinking or circumstance surrounding the idea, and simply whether this show would have been any good?

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[Mr. Glee]

The "Mr. Zero" project got a handful of mentions in the press during September and October of '66, the most significant being this item in Variety on 9/14/66: "CBS-TV has made a development deal with William Dozier's Greenway Productions and 20th Century Fox on a new series project, 'Mr. Zero,' an hour show aimed at 1967-1968."

I think the Bat coffee-table book might be mistaken about Dozier's meeting with Semple in May of '65 - I believe the primary focus of that meeting was to discuss "Number One Son" and not "Mr. Zero" (a three-page letter from Dozier to Semple dated April 20 '65 makes this clear, as Dozier mentions "Charlie junior" and his "San Francisco digs" in conjunction with the project he plans to discuss with Semple when he arrives in Spain.)

[High C]

The "Mr. Zero" project got a handful of mentions in the press during September and October of '66, the most significant being this item in Variety on 9/14/66: "CBS-TV has made a development deal with William Dozier's Greenway Productions and 20th Century Fox on a new series project, 'Mr. Zero,' an hour show aimed at 1967-1968."

I think the Bat coffee-table book might be mistaken about Dozier's meeting with Semple in May of '65 - I believe the primary focus of that meeting was to discuss "Number One Son" and not "Mr. Zero" (a three-page letter from Dozier to Semple dated April 20 '65 makes this clear, as Dozier mentions "Charlie junior" and his "San Francisco digs" in conjunction with the project he plans to discuss with Semple when he arrives in Spain.)

Great show, guys. Based on the above info, here's how I make it, as they say on the police procedural shows:

I think Dozier had the Mister Zero concept in his back pocket for a while. Hence, as you note, that's why it was Freeze rather than Zero on the show. But I tend to agree with what Mr. Glee said above. I think 1965 was when the test scene, with the other Omaha boss, was done. My guess is the full-blown treatment with Johnny Lee came AFTER Batman hit the airwaves.

You guys had some great quips. Yes, the test scene is crying out for explanation. It's a smart move by Semple in the 'rewrite' to have Johnny Lee be aware of Zero's identity and mission, as you said. He can be the audience surrogate.

I just think it is rather generic by Semple's standards. As we know, he was capable of much better.

To clarify, per Volume 2 of These Are The Voyages by Marc Cushman, which is flawed but does have good info, Art Wallace was working on a concept called Space Cop. Gene Roddenberry apparently got wind of it and asked Wallace if they could pool resources because he didn't want to have the networks choosing from two similar ideas of an alien cleaning up Earth's problems. Again, though, Mister Zero needed to be more similar to Gary Seven. Why have an alien who does only one alien thing, and a rather pedestrian one at that?

Again, thanks for a very informative history lesson. I love seeing how the sausage (almost) was made.

[BATWINGED HORNET]

Good show, guys.

Conceptually, the Mr. Zero story was ahead of its time--creating a series based around that kind of "outsider" fantasy character only previously explored on anthology series such as The Twilight Zone & The Outer Limits. The ideas for Zero's mission had many possibilities for a weekly series because the hero would not be grounded (chained) to any one series framework that would limit the range of his adventures, unlike a police show character who would not--realistically--find himself involved with foreign spies, aliens, etc.

That potential was evident in the Star Trek episode ("Assignment: Earth") oft-referred to in TTB #172; I always loved the Gary Seven story because he was not only a human raised by aliens to help mankind out of situations beyond their control, but he was advanced enough to pose a serious challenge to a crew from the 23rd century. He kept Kirk and Spock guessing, along with their own worries about possibly altering history. Despite NBC passing on "Assignment: Earth", it was one of the most fascinating backdoor pilots i've ever watched, and it was a shame it did not go to series--or expanded into (at least) a TV movie (similar to what Irwin Allen did with City Beneath the Sea when ABC declined to pick it up as a series).

Roddenberry was fortunate to work with Art Wallace who proved his fantasy credentials as one of the most important creators behind Dark Shadows. Certainly no fantasy slouch.

High C, if you're really interested in well-researched Star Trek history, you should check out https://www.facttrek.com/; the people behind it have unearthed numerous facts about the series, while debunking many of the myth or straight-up lies pushed by hacks like Cushman. That site is such a joy for TOS fans.

[High C]

High C, if you're really interested in well-researched Star Trek history, you should check out https://www.facttrek.com/; the people behind it have unearthed numerous facts about the series, while debunking many of the myth or straight-up lies pushed by hacks like Cushman. That site is such a joy for TOS fans.

I gave Cushman credit because that was the first place I saw it. I'm well aware of the flaws of his work and admit Fact Trek does good work in setting the record much straighter.

At the risk of hijacking the thread, I have a different beef with Fact Trek. I will point out that I queried Fact Trek in June 2020 on whether Leslie Parrish, who appeared twice on Batman, was considered for the Susan Oliver role in the original pilot.

The Fact Trek people responded on Dec. 26, 2020, admitting it was belated, and asked if they could use my real name in their letters section. I gave consent. Fast forward nearly 11 months and my question STILL HAS NOT BEEN ANSWERED and my follow-up e-mail was ignored. That's not the way to grow a site.

EDIT: I e-mailed them again Nov. 28. No response. My question remains unanswered a year-plus later.

[High C]

Getting back to the topic at hand, I agree with what Paul said--there would've been a lot of hand-wringing among the writers about the lack of alien technology actually used.

That's why, I think, this smacks of something post-season 1 Batman. The phenomenon has happened, it's time to cash in, and Semple already is looking toward greener pastures, i.e., movies. I think he did this as a favor to Dozier--he was paid, of course--with the thought in mind that, if it sold, he would hand it off to someone else and get co-creator credit.