Color Question.

[Boy Wonder]

Last night I'm watching the Black Widow episode and a police officer describes Batman as wearing purple trunks, purple gloves, purple cowl,.....

Anyway, it's obvious that he wears blue, not purple.
Does anyone know why it was written that way?

[Gernot]

Check your TV again, Boy Wonder! I've noticed myself that on several occasions Batman's costume was indeed purple! It was blue and gray for the first season, and all blue for a lot of the second season, but there WERE times Adam West was wearing purple.

[Mr. Deathtrap]

Batman in purple?

Batgirl is evidnetly having a stronger effect than first imagined.

[Boy Wonder]

Check your TV again, Boy Wonder! I've noticed myself that on several occasions Batman's costume was indeed purple! It was blue and gray for the first season, and all blue for a lot of the second season, but there WERE times Adam West was wearing purple.

I had noticed purple hues sometimes in his costume but always assumed that it was due to lighting or tweaking.
Like with the Joker's wig and how it didn't always look green.

[Robin's Girl]

I noticed the blue and purple of Batman's costume. So, in my mind I define the color as "royal blue," which I think of as a dark blue/purple combination.

[clavierankh]

When I was a kid I had a bunch of the Batman movie trading cards. (Wish I still had them!) I always noticed in them Batman's shirt and tights looked almost Sky Blue. I noticed the same thing on the DVD cover.

[Ben Bentley]

The phenomenon you're describing is the color shift in the fabric used for the Cowl, Gloves and Trunks. The fabric in question did not hold the blue dye for all that long and hence why, (particularly with the constrictions of the tight production schedule) by Season Two, we start to see a lot of "purpleing" to the garments I mentioned.

My own personal speculation is that it was such a well observed phenomenon on set that it in fact informed the choice of words when Robert Mintz was writing this two-parter.

[AndyFish]

While the costume did fade to that purple shade we all know from seeing existing originals today-- I don't think the fade was as quick on the show and it owed more to lighting.

There was a great magazine CINEMATESQUE (?) that came out a few years ago that featured behind the scenes photos shot outside in color while they were filming a third season episode and I was struck by just how BLUE Batman's costume was.

Outside is where you get true coloring in photographs, as many of you esteemed photographers here on this board know.

My guess is the writer based his script on what he was seeing on his own TV Screen at the time he wrote the episode, which reflected the studio lighting.

[Ben Bentley]

While the costume did fade to that purple shade we all know from seeing existing originals today-- I don't think the fade was as quick on the show and it owed more to lighting.

There was a great magazine CINEMATESQUE (?) that came out a few years ago that featured behind the scenes photos shot outside in color while they were filming a third season episode and I was struck by just how BLUE Batman's costume was.

Outside is where you get true coloring in photographs, as many of you esteemed photographers here on this board know.

My guess is the writer based his script on what he was seeing on his own TV Screen at the time he wrote the episode, which reflected the studio lighting.

I was under the impression that parts were almost constantly being replaced, or in the case of the cowls, being re-covered. This would account for the blues in the Third Season, the studio "hot lights" never really changed, so if it was strictly lighting the shift in colors would be consistent, leading me to suspect that by mid-Season Two, Adam was wearing a mix and match of components at any given time.

Cinefantastique is the magazine you're thinking of, Andy! A great read!

[AndyFish]

Good point Ben-- yup the costume fabric was often replaced, but I assumed by the third season and the limited budgets I would have expected that practice to stop-- doesn't Batman get a damaged ear in one episode (Surfing?) and the floppy ear stays unfixed for other episodes?

I was struck by the absolute stunning blues of that magazine's photos-- like it was the first season all over again.

But I buy your reasoning just as easily.