Hi Diddle Riddle Opening Narration

[Kamdan]

Anyone else disappointed that the “official” version of Hi Diddle Riddle now includes the Desmond Doomsday narration that tells the audience to “cheer Batman and hiss his diabolical enemies?” I notice this was the case with its recent reairing on MeTV.

As I understand it, this narration was only added after test scores were poor and the scores didn’t actually improve when tested again. It was a fun novelty when it would appear in reruns once in a blue moon, along with the narration-less recap in Smack in the Middle, but the narration is just way too on the nose about the tone the series was attempting to achieve. We shouldn’t hear any word of Batman until we see the opening credits animation, which was how it was presented for decades before it was restored for the Blu-ray/DVD.

It’s also worth noting that the initial batch of discs that had the missing Next Week villain promos had a narration-less opening for Hi Diddle Riddle and the corrected disc restored the narration with no option to listen to it with out it. I kept my error discs just for this reason and is my preferred way to watch the episode.

Just wondering if this bothers anyone else. Was there any confirmation on what version aired in 1966?

[Scott Sebring]

Nope. It needed it.

Was there any confirmation on what version aired in 1966?

Yes. The narrated version for both parts is what aired. I went in depth on this nearly tens years ago after the DVD mishap.

[Kamdan]

Yes. The narrated version for both parts is what aired. I went in depth on this nearly tens years ago after the DVD mishap.

I’ll have hunt down that thread. Makes me wonder the history of how the narration-less version got into circulation and was the standard until the whole remastering process occurred. Still not fond of how they took out the 1,000th pebble that strikes Batman’s head in The Pharaoh’s in a Rut, an erroneous part of the process that is often mistaken for grain artifacts. We’re lucky they didn’t make Catwoman’s costume completely black with no glimmer to the lurex fabric!

If it initially aired that way with the narration, it should be presented that way. Just can’t help but recall this as a similar situation to Blade Runner when a 70mm workprint was accidentally sent out to a film festival instead of the theatrical version. It stirred up the community because it didn’t have Ford’s narration, which many thought improved the film and led its long road to the Final Cut which is the standard release. Never thought those two would have so much in common!

[Jim Akin]

Yes. The narrated version for both parts is what aired. I went in depth on this nearly tens years ago after the DVD mishap.

I’ll have hunt down that thread.

https://www.66batman.com/forums/viewtop ... 355#p19355

[Scott Sebring]

This was the post I was thinking of:
https://www.66batman.com/forums/viewtop ... 368#p88368
To save you a click, here's the text (again):

Disagree. It was a dropped ball from when the new syndication tapes were made in the late 80's>.
I wrote about it here back in 2014 before the DVDs and Blu Rays were released:
https://www.66batman.com/forums/viewtop ... ion#p19355

Basically this conversation:

clavierankh wrote:
I honestly believe the narration was added later. If the episodes on the disks are as originally aired hen the narration won't be there.

scott sebring wrote:
Nope. The one that has had it missing is the one that ended up in the most recent syndication for the past twenty odd years. The "Studio Masters" bootlegs that have been circulating for ages were just VHS run offs from the syndication copies that were going out in the late 80's. And virtually every DVD boot I've seen from these master sets is from the very same copy with exact same video flaws in every one.

I have seen at least two "Studio Master" sets in their original VHS form with all their FOX labels and stuff. For " Smack in the Middle" there was a difference between both sets in particular. On one copy, the opening recap DID NOT have any narration and was only the music (Batguitarist would be happy) just like the "Hi Diddle Riddle" that has been out there on the airwaves and bootlegs over the years. This would make ZERO sense for them to air a voiceless recap back in the day. The other copy did have the opening recap narration as it should have had.

Upon reviewing these so called master tapes over the years, I've really come to the conclusion that some intern at FOX had to try and compile the best overall quality syndication tapes from the various source broadcast tapes they had for the new push. The color, quality and sound fluctuates so much that there is no way they were simply ran off from one master source. They didn't bust out the 35mm and do any master transfer. There was no agenda to preserving what was originally aired. They just tried to put together a set that didn't have drop outs or flaws. And apparently when they were running off these copies to give out to the select few, they were not coming off a single "Master" for all of them. And somewhere in than mix of stuff, a "Hi Diddle Riddle" without an opening narration became the norm. I wouldn't be surprised if half of those people who received those original VHS masters probably have an opening narration for their "Hi Diddle Riddle."

So was the opening narration for "Hi Diddle Riddle" added later after broadcast? Of course not. They never seemed to go back to ADD anything after it aired. Only paired away over the years. 16mm prints have the narration. I remember the whole "Cheer" and "Hiss" speech vividly from watching the syndication as a kid. So it was there for years. I believe it was there from the first airing because that was the whole pitch to this thing.

My two cents.

Techy note here (former recording engineer coming out): Back in the pre stereo video days, it was very common for series hoping to be aired in different countries and redubbed in different languages to have two channels of audio on the master tapes. One channel of just the music and possible sound effect tracks and the other for the original dialogue. If one patched a feed from one side of a mono output for a mono recording they would only get one or the other. I acquired a German import of the 1966 Captain America cartoon a couple of years ago. One audio was dubbed in mono German and when I switched to the English version, all the music and sound effects were on one speaker and the English dialogue was on the other just like an early Beatle record. They didn't think to mix the two channels to mono as they were meant to for the DVD release. I laughed because I knew what happened. Okay, I'll go put my headphones back on and shut up now...

Lastly, after the DVDs and Blu Rays came out with many errors like the missing opening narration (proven that it originally aired with it by member
Bob Furmanek) and missing scenes that had been cut out for syndication to shorten running times, they did the replacement discs as you know. Like I said though, the missing narration was a goof and not an assumptive "they already know"decision.

I'd like to add here to the "proven that it originally aired with it by member Bob Furmanek" bit here for folks who either forgotten or wasn't around at the time. Bob is a film historian , especially when it comes to 3D films. He actually had a tape copy of the night that Batman premiered with commercials and all. The opening narration was there from the first airing. He even had footage of the "Batman is Coming" promos that aired in the earlier weeks. He brought this up to WB and they made the correction. They were even going to add the "Batman is Coming" footage that he had to the replacement discs as a bonus, but could not identify or find records of the announcer for those promo spots and could not release it and be union compliant. So that was a missed opportunity for the fans. Bob's extensive knowledge of how things were discussed and reported in the trades like Variety helped debunk some popular myths buzzing around. One should check out some his past posts. Pure gold.