Bat Tours: The Bat-Roads

General goings on in the 1966 Batman World

Moderators: Scott Sebring, Ben Bentley

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Scott Sebring
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Bat Tours: The Bat-Roads

Post by Scott Sebring »

Back in 2019, Ben and I started investigating the location of the famous shot of the Batmobile passing by a tree and turning around that bend on its way to Gotham. The shot often had guest villains and writing credits splashed across the screen each week for much of the first season and sprinkled here and there over the series' run. Nobody that we knew of had any real clue of where it was shot and the theories that tended to pop up didn't hold water to mine or Ben's familiarity with the Los Angeles / Hollywood area. One day while scoping out Google Maps at possible roads, I stumbled across their 3D terrain feature. This was a huge game-changer. We were now able to not only scrutinize the shape of turns used in the pilot that we believed most of the driving footage to be used was coming from at the time but also rule out many other roads due to the surrounding hilly terrain not matching up with the screen captures we were referencing. In the end, we believed we found the iconic Bat Bend shot at the tree but even more.

During one of Ben's visits from the UK in June of that year, we decided to put our theory to the test and film the journey to share online. The journey itself went great! Unfortunately, there was some serious problem with the audio we needed for our on-camera portions of the video. Winds and children yelling while running amok in the background made it near impossible to make out what Ben and I were saying. Shortly after watching the footage and its problems, we felt we would have to shelve this one and do it over on another day. By the time 2020 came, the pandemic hit and other life-changing things postponed any plans for filming such stuff. Ben got engaged and was working on immigrating to the States to marry his fiancé, and all that entailed during the pandemic. Short answer to an even longer answer, life was taking precedence over making fan docs.

Fast forward to now. Ben is married and lives about 3 1/2 hours North of me. My work in multimedia has made me more and more aware of AI-assisted tools. One in particular that just came out in the past month, was a one-click audio enhancement tool that blew me away when I saw a YouTube demonstration of it. Out of curiosity, I threw our previously unusable "Bat-Roads" audio into it. I thought, "Chew on this." What came back knocked my socks off. Over 90% of the kids yelling and the winds were GONE and all that was left was audio of Ben and I sounding like we were doing a podcast. I sent the footage to Ben and he started cutting while I worked on animated maps and such.

So, it's been a crazy one in the making as we thought we kissed this one goodbye but here is "Bat Tours: The Bat-Roads."


YouTube Description:
Join Scott Sebring and Ben Bentley as they take a research trip up into the Hollywood Hills to try and track down the famous "Bat-Roads" that we saw the Batmobile tearing down each week on The 1966 Batman TV series starring Adam West.
Join the conversation: https://66batman.com/forums
Download the map: https://66batman.com/bat_resources/bat-roads_map.pdf
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Ben Bentley
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Re: Bat Tours: The Bat-Roads

Post by Ben Bentley »

Like Scott alluded to, I honestly never thought this video was going to get finished let alone see the light of day given that we did not have usable audio for the first three minutes or so. This is a real pleasure to actually get to share this with you all after nearly four years!

The location of The Bat-Roads had loomed large in Scott and I’s conversations over the ten plus years that I’d been coming to visit Los Angeles. Eventually, after another high-profile reference to the Batmobile sequences having been filmed on Mulholland Drive, Scott and I, adamant that it wasn’t Mulholland (having ruled it out prior),then actively set out to research once and for all where this road actually is.

Sadly, despite the volume of Dozier/Production paperwork we have in our collections, there was no specific reference to this filming location. I’m missing a lot of the call sheets and production reports from early Season One, so instead we set about it the hard way, combining our existing knowledge and context of the Hollywood Hills, as mention in the video, we combed satellite imagery from Google Maps looking for shapes and bends that we had studied from the episodes.

A lot of you here on the Message Board are well aware that our fascination with the filming locations is a big part of Scott and I’s fandom of the Batman TV show. Over the years, we’ve visited and photographed locations from the show on the Warner lot in Burbank and the former Desilu Culver studio exteriors (thankfully before a lot of construction that has happened at the latter in the last few years). Fast forward to March of 2020, with a lot of time suddenly on our hands thanks to Covid lockdowns etc, (and having added The Bat-Roads to our list of location-research-conquests), we decided to start work on a book that would identify every single exterior location seen chronologically throughout the show’s three seasons and movie.

Again, as Scott mentioned, a lot of real-life stuff has happened since then (I’m now married and live in California!) but never fear, the Message Board will of course be the first place to hear all about our book “Greetings From Gotham Cities”, once it is finally completed and a release date is set.

Ben-Bat_Roads-June_2019-Web_Res-2292.jpg
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Jim Akin
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Re: Bat Tours: The Bat-Roads

Post by Jim Akin »

Wow! This is terrific. Thanks for the research and for presenting your findings so clearly.
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Chuck Williams
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Re: Bat Tours: The Bat-Roads

Post by Chuck Williams »

My cheeks ache from smiling so much! FLIPPIN' F*@KIN' INCREDIBLE!!!!
I laughed out loud when I saw the Batmobiles lined up in the road.

I loved everything about this. The info of course, but the pacing, writing,camera,music and editing made this a real treat.
Head and shoulders above the average "fan film" not only for the research but you make a lovely couple!
In a Siskle and Ebert sort of way.
Not that there's anything wrong with it. ;)

Add the drone footage that made my eyes bulge and you guys have made my Wednesday night!!!

Bravo!!!!
Throwing roses on the stage... :D
Quick, Everyone, Flee for your lives, into the street!!!!

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To The Batpoles!
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Re: Bat Tours: The Bat-Roads

Post by To The Batpoles! »

So much fun!
Thanks for sharing your finds with all of us CRAZY-BAT FANS!
You guys are the BEST!

=Frank=
The Early Bird may get the Worm, but it's the SECOND Mouse that gets the CHEESE!
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BatMite
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Re: Bat Tours: The Bat-Roads

Post by BatMite »

Great job with the video. I’m sure the book will be fascinating.
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Jim K, Bat fan
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Re: Bat Tours: The Bat-Roads

Post by Jim K, Bat fan »

:D It's stuff like this that makes me so proud and happy to be a member of this board. Absolutely brilliant! Thank you. :D
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Batfanman
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Re: Bat Tours: The Bat-Roads

Post by Batfanman »

Cool video - great job all around. That audio tech is really cool. It’s so fascinating that frequency separation has become so proficient. If someone wanted to spend time and effort, the entire series could be remixed in stereo!
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Mark Racop
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Re: Bat Tours: The Bat-Roads

Post by Mark Racop »

Outstanding work, guys! Batman's reputation as the 'world's greatest detective' is not forgotten by you two, that's for sure. I share Chuck's comments on every aspect of the short--kudos!
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A. Pennyworth
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Re: Bat Tours: The Bat-Roads

Post by A. Pennyworth »

"We have a disease, we have a problem, we have a fascination, obsession, I'm sorry" .... Well don't we all! Great research, information and video and don't forget to drive on the wrong side of the road!
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Space Ghost
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Re: Bat Tours: The Bat-Roads

Post by Space Ghost »

Thanks Scott & Ben for the awesome Batman road tour. I really enjoyed the back road tour. You guys are really spot on. I just loved it much like my Bat tour of the Batcave or Bronson cave you took me on back in 2015 Scott. Thanks guys!
You're Never Too Old to have a Happy Childhood
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Lou Szabo
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Re: Bat Tours: The Bat-Roads

Post by Lou Szabo »

Not toys, but "Action Vehicles"

I wonder if driving on the double yellow line was required due to the arch blocking your view of the entire road.
Some days you just can't get rid of a ... SHARK!
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Mistahand
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Re: Bat Tours: The Bat-Roads

Post by Mistahand »

Guys...
Just finished watching "Bat Roads" tour...
what a great job... keep it up...
BiffPow
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Re: Bat Tours: The Bat-Roads

Post by BiffPow »

Professional, informative and entertaining. Looking forward to the DVD release of all of your efforts finding the locations as a companion to the book.

Production value: 100%. Video, narration, animated maps, music, editing, and relevance of material used was perfect. Nothing extra needed, nothing needed to be deleted.

Should be a “bonus feature” for any future release of the series, at the very least.
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Jimmy L. 66
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Re: Bat Tours: The Bat-Roads

Post by Jimmy L. 66 »

Marvelous job chums! Great research and I love the bookends. Thanks for sharing this.
Scott, can you say what the app was that you used?
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