I'm glad that Julie didn't do the movie

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dell
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I'm glad that Julie didn't do the movie

Post by dell »

I'm not sure how others feel, but I think Lee did a great job in the movie. I also find it hard to imagine Julie in the role. I didn't like the Sandman episode where she seemed to play second fiddle to another villain. She certainly would have had to play a less aggressive version of Catwoman with three other villains sharing the screen.

Also, Lee pulled off the Russian reporter alter ego far better than I think Julie would have. Julie played a Russian (secret agent???) in a show that I can't remember, but I do recall she wasn't very convincing.
dell
elmrgraham
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Re: I'm glad that Julie didn't do the movie

Post by elmrgraham »

I purrfectly agree Dell.
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Re: I'm glad that Julie didn't do the movie

Post by elmrgraham »

I purrfectly agree Dell.
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Yellow Oval
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Re: I'm glad that Julie didn't do the movie

Post by Yellow Oval »

I agree it would have been different if Julie would have played in the movie. As a replacement Lee knocked it straight out of the park. Then again, as discussed in the Penguin thread wondering about Gleason and Meredith it becomes a question of apples and oranges as every actor has their strengths and weaknesses. How would things have gone if Dozier went with Lyle Waggoner instead of Adam? In the grand scheme of things it is what it is and I'm quite happy with how everything went in the series and the film.
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AndyFish
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Re: I'm glad that Julie didn't do the movie

Post by AndyFish »

Lee was great-- I wouldn't change a thing. I don't like the way Julie's Catwoman devolved as the series progressed. Her first appearances were stellar, but it's like they weren't sure how to handle her as they turned her into a lovesick kitten. Lee had the ferocity of that first appearance Catwoman.

It's funny how as a kid I never connected the players. I didn't get that Lee wasn't Julie. I didn't see that Tut was one of the Mutants in Beneath the Planet of the Apes and had someone told me that Dr Phibes was Egghead maybe I would have been less hysterical about that ghoulish character.
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clavierankh
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Re: I'm glad that Julie didn't do the movie

Post by clavierankh »

As for love sick Catwoman, since the characters beginnings in the 40s there is an implied romance between Catoman and Batman. This was not created by the series.

TO me it's strange that people act like Lee took over a part that Julie owned. Julie only played Catwoman in one arc before the movie and the the first time it ran much of part one was premempted by a space emergency. I remember it well. So the whole arc wasn't really seen until reruns. Julie's ownership of the part came because she played the part 5 times in the second season. If the powers that be decided that they liked the way Lee played the part in the movie and decided to go forward with her in the part instead of Julie a lot of people wouldn't have noticed and today there would be debate just like which Mister Freeze was best.
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John Mack
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Re: I'm glad that Julie didn't do the movie

Post by John Mack »

Don't feel bad Andy. As a kid I never took notice of anything. Various Freezes, the switching of the Bat poles into the cave. I thought the Batmobile must be the fastest car in the world to go 14 miles in 15 seconds lol.
Btw, anyone ever wonder why Lee wasn't Catwoman in the third season? She may have had a commitment?
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Re: I'm glad that Julie didn't do the movie

Post by robinboyblunderer »

I just realized that maybe Lee in the role makes Bruce/Batman's oblviousness as to Kitka's identity easier to to believe since Catwoman is played by a different character. Though I suppose the name KITka should be a big giveaway.

I think Julie completely set the standard for the role in her single appearance. It was that good and while there are other fine interpretations of the character, I think she set the standard.
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TP-6597
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Re: I'm glad that Julie didn't do the movie

Post by TP-6597 »

I agree with Dell. To me, Lee was perfect in the roll. I think I’ve posted somewhere around here before that I think Lee is my favorite Catwoman (sacrilege, I know). For the record, I think Julie is amazing as Catwoman and her episodes are among my favorites of the entire series.
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Therin of Andor
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Re: I'm glad that Julie didn't do the movie

Post by Therin of Andor »

John Mack wrote: Thu Jan 10, 2019 4:11 pm As a kid I never took notice of anything.
I was oblivious to the existence of the movie for some years, and my friends and I puzzled over the Bat Laffs gum cards, pondering a mysterious, unseen episode where four arch villains interacted and had bookshelves with personalised labels. We also didn't notice that it wasn't Julie in the gum cards!
Btw, anyone ever wonder why Lee wasn't Catwoman in the third season? She may have had a commitment?
Wasn't it that once Eartha Kitt (a great name for a Catwoman portrayer) was floated as a possibility, it was obvious that the free publicity was immeasurable?

Lisa Carson had already appeared in Season Two and had an iconic romantic encounter with Bruce. Maybe too indelible to go back to a seductive Catwoman in Season Three? Eartha's diminutive Catwoman was more a foil for Batgirl rather than a love connection for Batman/Bruce.
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epaddon
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Re: I'm glad that Julie didn't do the movie

Post by epaddon »

The reason Lee wasn't CW in Season 3 I think comes down to one basic point. She simply wasn't a "focal point" guest star villainess. This is the point that I think gets lost in the shuffle regarding both her appearances on "Batman." Both times, she was basically called on as an emergency replacement and both times *not* to be the focal point. In the movie, the role of CW is an ensemble part and not one that requires a lot of "villain gives monologue to underlings outlining his/her plan" type moments and where the main thrust of the action is going to stay on him/her.

Likewise, when she appeared in S2 in the Tut episode it's clear that was a last minute type of thing (there is no name for the actress playing Lisa Carson on the initial call sheets even with all other cast members named at this point) because she had to do that episode sandwiched around her commitments to "The Time Tunnel" where her role on that series was strictly supporting and not focal point. And her commitment to "The Time Tunnel" would have kept her out of any backup plans for S3 because "The Time Tunnel" was originally supposed to be renewed for a second season and it's cancellation came very late in the game as far as any viable planning for S3 was concerned. I think the powers that be were already committed to the idea of Kitt as the fallback in case Julie wasn't going to come back.

Take a look at Lee's roles post-Batman and you also don't see focal point stuff were she alone has the spotlight. Even her "Star Trek" episode only has one moment where she has to give a long speech (and that's on a recording). Ultimately, a supporting role was the niche Lee excelled best at, and while it was one thing to use Lee as a low-budget emergency replacement for an ensemble type part in the movie, giving her a solo guest shot spotlight would have been much more demanding, and I don't think Dozier and company saw her as someone who could fill that role. Any replacement CW for Julie had to have the "star" pedigree Julie already had and Eartha, because of her singing fame, had that over Lee at that point in time where notwithstanding her Miss America past, she was being thought of more as "character actress."
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Therin of Andor
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Re: I'm glad that Julie didn't do the movie

Post by Therin of Andor »

epaddon wrote: Fri Jan 11, 2019 11:50 am Likewise, when she appeared in S2 in the Tut episode it's clear that was a last minute type of thing (there is no name for the actress playing Lisa Carson on the initial call sheets even with all other cast members named at this point) because she had to do that episode sandwiched around her commitments to "The Time Tunnel"
I wonder if the cheeky seduction scene with Bruce at the end made them think of Lee from the movie?
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Dan E Kool
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Re: I'm glad that Julie didn't do the movie

Post by Dan E Kool »

I'm not sure I'd say that I'm glad Julie Newmar didn't do the movie... so much as I'd say, I'm glad that Lee Meriwether did! I think she's great.
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High C
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Re: I'm glad that Julie didn't do the movie

Post by High C »

epaddon wrote: Fri Jan 11, 2019 11:50 am The reason Lee wasn't CW in Season 3 I think comes down to one basic point. She simply wasn't a "focal point" guest star villainess. This is the point that I think gets lost in the shuffle regarding both her appearances on "Batman." Both times, she was basically called on as an emergency replacement and both times *not* to be the focal point. In the movie, the role of CW is an ensemble part and not one that requires a lot of "villain gives monologue to underlings outlining his/her plan" type moments and where the main thrust of the action is going to stay on him/her.
This is spot-on and it's not a knock on Lee. The bottom line was she was, as epaddon said, an emergency replacement in the movie when Newmar's back problem flared up again. She wasn't as big a name as Julie was at the time and I'll always maintain part of the reason she got the gig, and again, this isn't a knock on Lee, is that she was under contract to Fox at the time and they needed somebody in a hurry who wouldn't break the budget. Keep in mind Julie signed for $10K--Lee made only $5.5K.
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High C
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Re: I'm glad that Julie didn't do the movie

Post by High C »

dell wrote: Thu Jan 10, 2019 12:20 pm I'm not sure how others feel, but I think Lee did a great job in the movie. I also find it hard to imagine Julie in the role. I didn't like the Sandman episode where she seemed to play second fiddle to another villain. She certainly would have had to play a less aggressive version of Catwoman with three other villains sharing the screen.

Also, Lee pulled off the Russian reporter alter ego far better than I think Julie would have. Julie played a Russian (secret agent???) in a show that I can't remember, but I do recall she wasn't very convincing.
I've said before, Lee's performance as CW is third on my list personally, but I agree with you, I think she was really good as Kitka. I think she did a much better job than Julie would have. Swede/Scandinavian was more in Julie's wheelhouse than Russian. I'm surprised they wrote the role that way for her.
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My hobbies include gazing at the Siren and doing her bidding, evil or otherwise.

'She had a devastating, hypnotic effect on all the men.'--A schoolmate describing Joan Collins at age 17
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