Batman 3rd season - Dr Cassandra - released villians

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RandyTheBatFan
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Batman 3rd season - Dr Cassandra - released villians

Post by RandyTheBatFan »

Hello,

My first post on this board.

My name is Randy and Batman 1966 has been my favorite TV show of all-time since I was a six-year old boy in 1966. Of course, I HAD to get the official DVD set released in 2014 despite the "Holy Sticker Shock Batman" price. When you've waited over 40 years for something, you don't quibble about the price. Anyway, I digress.

I was watching the 3rd season episode "The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra" and when she unlocks the cells for The Joker, The Penguin, The Riddler, Catwoman, Egghead and King Tut, I payed very close attention, and despite my poor eyesight, I COULD SWEAR the actors and actresses playing those roles LOOKED like the actual STARS who played those roles in previous episodes! How on earth did the producers of this series afford to have them all come back for those un-credited cameos for one scene??!

Now, when they all sit down to listen to Dr Cassandra's plan, then they looked like extras dressed up in those costumes, but that prison release scene LOOKED like the real actors themselves.

This inconsistency is driving me nuts!

Could you good citizens of this board please help me here? Did I imagine the prison cell release scene was filmed separately, or have my old eyes been fooled?

Any answers would be gratefully received. Thank you in advance.
cammy85
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Re: Batman 3rd season - Dr Cassandra - released villians

Post by cammy85 »

They are indeed stunt doubles the entire time. That's one of the reasons the villains were invisible and then in the dark for the fight scene. It would be too noticeable. A shame really. But a good way to see the archvillains one last time before facing the horror of... a crooked spa owner.
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epaddon
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Re: Batman 3rd season - Dr Cassandra - released villians

Post by epaddon »

Consider the amount of money that would have needed to be paid to the actual actors just to put on the costumes (a time consuming process) for basically no work and then its easy to put the idea these are the actual actors out of one's mind.
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Bat Username
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Re: Batman 3rd season - Dr Cassandra - released villians

Post by Bat Username »

They did do a very good job with shooting the doubles so that it wasn't glaringly obvious. I'm sure a lot of kids probably had no idea it wasn't the "real" villains.

It's also interesting that they chose to use a Catwoman that resembled Julie Newmar, as opposed to having a double for Eartha Kitt. Anyone know the reasoning behind that decision? Did they simply feel Newmar was more closely associated with the role?
RandyTheBatFan
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Re: Batman 3rd season - Dr Cassandra - released villians

Post by RandyTheBatFan »

Thank you everybody who answered my question!

My old eyes were truly fooled! :oops:
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Jim Akin
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Re: Batman 3rd season - Dr Cassandra - released villians

Post by Jim Akin »

Bat Username wrote:It's also interesting that they chose to use a Catwoman that resembled Julie Newmar, as opposed to having a double for Eartha Kitt. Anyone know the reasoning behind that decision? Did they simply feel Newmar was more closely associated with the role?
Purely a guess -- and given differences in stature, possibly a bad one -- but is it possible that an actress already on set to double for Batgirl might've been tapped for Catwoman in the jailbreak scene? (Someone Yvonne Craig's size might've fit into Eartha Kitt's catsuit, no?)

Cheers,

QQ
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dell
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Re: Batman 3rd season - Dr Cassandra - released villians

Post by dell »

Quillpen Quirch wrote:Purely a guess -- and given differences in stature, possibly a bad one -- but is it possible that an actress already on set to double for Batgirl might've been tapped for Catwoman in the jailbreak scene? (Someone Yvonne Craig's size might've fit into Eartha Kitt's catsuit, no?)

Cheers,

QQ
Interesting theory.
dell
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BATWINGED HORNET
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Re: Batman 3rd season - Dr Cassandra - released villians

Post by BATWINGED HORNET »

cammy85 wrote:They are indeed stunt doubles the entire time. That's one of the reasons the villains were invisible and then in the dark for the fight scene. It would be too noticeable. A shame really. But a good way to see the archvillains one last time before facing the horror of... a crooked spa owner.
By the time the Cassandra episode was filmed, the producers knew the series was over, so it makes me wonder why the use of so many arch villain stunt performers at all? It seems such a move would make sense, if you were still trying to gain attention for the series (and script quality was not a concern), but by that time, it no longer mattered.

Honestly, they could have run 25 minutes of Batmobile stock footage, and come away with the same result.
Beneath Wayne Manor
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epaddon
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Re: Batman 3rd season - Dr Cassandra - released villians

Post by epaddon »

I think another reason they needed to go that route is because since Duff and Lupino had no henchmen of their own, then who the heck were you going to use for a fight scene? This way, you solve that problem by having a bunch of stunt people and the "fight" only involves first off-camera technicians throwing things to simulate an "invisible" attack (watch that scene and notice how everything is flying from two directions only) and then a scene in the dark. This way your guest stars also don't get subject to the rigors of a fight scene either. Since they'd already eschewed a fight scene in the Nora episode (where Nora had no male underlings to throw punches at), I guess they figured they couldn't do that twice and wanted t find another way that could work as a budget saver.
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Dr. Shimel
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Re: Batman 3rd season - Dr Cassandra - released villians

Post by Dr. Shimel »

epaddon wrote:I think another reason they needed to go that route is because since Duff and Lupino had no henchmen of their own, then who the heck were you going to use for a fight scene? This way, you solve that problem by having a bunch of stunt people and the "fight" only involves first off-camera technicians throwing things to simulate an "invisible" attack (watch that scene and notice how everything is flying from two directions only) and then a scene in the dark. This way your guest stars also don't get subject to the rigors of a fight scene either. Since they'd already eschewed a fight scene in the Nora episode (where Nora had no male underlings to throw punches at), I guess they figured they couldn't do that twice and wanted t find another way that could work as a budget saver.
Of course the budget for the rest of the episode was about $50. :lol:
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Riddler Fan
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Re: Batman 3rd season - Dr Cassandra - released villians

Post by Riddler Fan »

If you take a close look, some of the doubles are pretty poor matches to the real actors. Especially the faux Penguin's obvious fake nose. The show had to work with a reduced budget, they couldn't even afford to get at least one of the original actors to come back to play their respective villain roles.
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Dr. Shimel
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Re: Batman 3rd season - Dr Cassandra - released villians

Post by Dr. Shimel »

Riddler Fan wrote:If you take a close look, some of the doubles are pretty poor matches to the real actors. Especially the faux Penguin's obvious fake nose. The show had to work with a reduced budget, they couldn't even afford to get at least one of the original actors to come back to play their respective villain roles.
I know the Riddler's hair seemed a lot longer than what Frank Gorshin wore.
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epaddon
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Re: Batman 3rd season - Dr Cassandra - released villians

Post by epaddon »

That's even true in the Batman movie. Watch the stunt double who goes off the sub deck into the tank and its *really* obvious.
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dell
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Re: Batman 3rd season - Dr Cassandra - released villians

Post by dell »

I think we would have seen the thing in regards to the doubles if this had been a first season episode. There is no reason to bring in the name stars for a few seconds of screen time. the cost would have been ridiculous and no real value for it. Since stunt doubles often stood in for Adam and Burt it only makes sense to use them here too given the short time the characters are on screen and shot from an angle that no one would have noticed in first run on TV. Now with high definition versions that can be paused, rewound, zoomed in, etc. it is easy to notice this stuff.
dell
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Jim K, Bat fan
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Re: Batman 3rd season - Dr Cassandra - released villians

Post by Jim K, Bat fan »

I thought I remembered a great thread from the old board about this topic, complete with super screen grabs...and sure enough, I found it:

http://www.66batman.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/Y ... 40119361/0

Terrific reading for the new folks (and a great memory jogger for the rest of us!) :D
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