The ME-TV BATMAN Episode Discussion Thread

[Dr. Shimel]

Watching the second part of the Black Widow episodes, I see Batman got one of the early I-phones.

[BATWINGED HORNET]

A big YAY from me, as my listings show the Lee Meriwether episodes the week after the Black Widow episodes! Don't know if my complaining emails to them did anything, but at least they're back on track now, or at least they are for the next two weeks.

Before we have a new discussion on the Black Widow eps, I'd like to jump back to Batman Displays His Knowledge and post a link to an article I found about Julie Newmar, which talks about the 'seduction' scene near the end. When I first saw that scene on youtube (without seeing the whole episode; I waited for ME-TV to air it to actually see the whole episode,) I thought that scene was incredible. No point-of-view cutting back and forth. It was like a play, one whole scene (I think I timed it at about 3 minutes? I'll have to do it again to check) with no cuts whatsoever, and I was just amazed that they got through that whole thing without cracking up. I was thinking this must be like the 17th take or something because they had to be laughing, especially about bat-plugs <g>, but nope, Julie says they did it in one take and went home. I find that totally amazing. They were really professionals to pull that off with no flubbed lines, no screwups, no laughing. Wow.

Anyway, here's part of the article, with the link to the full article at the bottom:

RCM: Tell us about that famous totally hot scene where you seduce Batman…

JN: I actually choreographed that scene myself for the producers. I come down the stairs and slide down a railing and it was all choreographed like a piece of dance. I had compassion for the producers, because when you’re shooting at 8 o’clock at night, you’re in the “golden time” or something, you’re into time-and-a-half. It’s extensive and I wanted to save them money, so I shared my ideas with the director and he said, “Yeah, let’s do it!” So we shot the whole thing in one take, and everybody went home happy about it.

RCM: It’s doubtful that any Batman viewer can ever forget this scene – the way you combine power, naughtiness, and vulnerability.

JN: When I watch that scene now, I can see that in seducing the male character how I had to bend my knees and make myself a little shorter, a little more vulnerable. By doing this, it allowed Batman to be the aggressor, even though the truth is, I was. But maybe that reflects everything we do in life.

There were times also where I noticed that I was being extra girlish in that scene. I think that’s something we don’t look upon greatly these days, as girls today are more tough – they have muscles coming out of their shoulders. They wear sleeveless tank tops now.

We were soft and feminine back then. You didn’t have all these masculine traits. Nevertheless, they can change but we all know that for something to survive in history, it has to be awfully good if it’s going to still resonate with people, 10, 20, or 50 years from now. A television series like Batman gets under your skin and it touches hearts. That’s why it endures.

- See more at: http://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/2013/ ... I9euB.dpuf

Thanks for the link!

[BATWINGED HORNET]

The Black Widow episodes...well, it was close to the end of season two, and it was a mess of a story.

From the kiddie Halloween-store felt spiders, to a part one trap that served the same purpose as the Gumm trap only four episodes earlier, to "Buttercup," this was an awful, pointless story.

Minor point of interest: Burt Ward's acting like Bankhead in the Batmobile. Strange and funny all at the same time.

[Gleeps, it's Batman]

I found this piece of trivia about these episodes on IMDB:

This very unusual two-parter includes a sly parody of the omnipresence of television commercials, as every one of the show's sponsors is represented by at least one scene or line. Among them: the first episode begins with Black Widow pretending to innocently open a new account at a Gotham City bank, which the proprietor assures her is "An excellent way to start your day" (Kellogg's); she robs a branch of Beneficial Savings and Loan (another sponsor); Commissioner Gordon reassures a nervous bank owner that "You can be sure if it's Batman" (Westinghouse); Black Widow's hideout is located at 411 Lava Drive (Lava Soap); and, in the last scene, Black Widow concedes that "Only Batman knows for sure!" (Clairol).

Also, I have a stupid question: why did Robin need Batman to sing to use the device on him?

[Dr. Shimel]

Given the way the show's budget was going in the latter half of S2, it wouldn't be a surprise to hear that Dozier worked out a sponsor deal for what was, in effect, product placement.

[clavierankh]

I always thought her hide out was on Larva drive, which would play into the insect theme.

[High C]

The Black Widow episodes...well, it was close to the end of season two, and it was a mess of a story.

From the kiddie Halloween-store felt spiders, to a part one trap that served the same purpose as the Gumm trap only four episodes earlier, to "Buttercup," this was an awful, pointless story.

Minor point of interest: Burt Ward's acting like Bankhead in the Batmobile. Strange and funny all at the same time.

And it didn't help that the baddie was portrayed by a physically broken-down woman who looked much older than she was because of her addictions to tobacco and liquor. Even as a kid, I remember thinking, 'why does that old lady want to hurt Batman?'

The sad thing is Dozier worshipped Bankhead, as shown in his memos of the time, and honestly believed her eps would rejuvenate the show. Demonstrated how misguided he was by that time.

[Dr. Shimel]

Not surprisingly, Tallullah was the first Arch-Villain to die in real life, passing away in December 1968.

[Gleeps, it's Batman]

I always thought her hide out was on Larva drive, which would play into the insect theme.

I checked out the closed captioning on my recording, and they have "larva" on the closed captioning, and it does make sense that it's larva because of what Chief O'Hara says, but if you want a good laugh turn on the closed captioning on youtube. Wow, a lot of the wording is WAY off! I'm guessing it's a computer interpreting what it hears? It reminds me of putting something into some of those online translators and getting a good laugh at what you get back as a translation.

[clavierankh]

Try looking at closed captioning on a live event.

[Dr. Shimel]

In tonight's second episode, "Batman's Waterloo," the Caped Crusader makes a comment to Alfred that made me think that Stanley Ralph Ross wrote it, given the suggestive nature of it. Sure enough, a quick check of IMDB confirmed it.

The quote? An incredulous Alfred can't believe that a small capsule will turn boiling oil into rubber, so Batman tells him, "The size of the package, Alfred, is in no way any indication of the value of its contents."

Regarding another issue, how many different times did Chief O'Hara make some contemptuous remark about Bruce Wayne? In these episodes, his patronizing comment about Bruce helping out is along the lines of "I guess he's not as useless as I thought."

[clavierankh]

I was 10 wen Batman debuted. I wasn't a big King Tut fan. As I got older and appreciated the humor of the series more Tut became a favorite.

BTW, Lee was certainly showing off her figure to good effect tonight!

[Batman1962]

I alawys enjoy the King Tut episodes; clearly, Victor Buono had a lot of fun with the role, and he was a laugh riot from start to end. In my opinion, he had some of the more memorable lines in the series. My favorite was in tonight's "Batman's Waterloo": "When we get to the royal oil boiling room, be sure to prepare some real boiling royal boiling oil to boil the Boy Wonder in... royally."

Tonight's fights didn't seem to be sped up in the usual MeTV manner; yes, I've noticed that as well. The background music has noticeably been sped up on occasion in the past during the fights, but I didn't notice that tonight. I'm a stickler for things like that. But the fights are always fun to watch.

Did anyone notice the box marked "STAMPS" in King Tut's hideout? Maybe he bought them from Col. Gumm? I also thought (not 100% sure) that I saw another box with a question mark on it.

[Dr. Shimel]

Did anyone notice the box marked "STAMPS" in King Tut's hideout? Maybe he bought them from Col. Gumm? I also thought (not 100% sure) that I saw another box with a question mark on it.

Right on both counts. The slashing of the budget (in this case props) was in full swing.

[Gleeps, it's Batman]

Sadly this was my last 'new' episode. I've now seen them all, so no more 'new' adventures for me.

Tsk tsk. Bruce and Alfred talking in front of an open phone line about how the call from the Commissioner is for Bruce and not for Batman.

I have to echo clavierankh here. As a kid I don't know that I was all that thrilled with King Tut, but now I love the way Victor Buono has a ball with the role.

I remember Adam saying something in the commentary on the movie DVD about how they never let him kiss anybody. Funny that the two characters he gets to kiss are both played by Lee Meriwether.

Hehe, John E. Carson (Johnny Carson)

I seem to like Stanley Ralph Ross's scripts whenever I take notice of who wrote an episode.

My antenna pixeled out a few times, so I missed bits of dialogue along the way. I'll have to rewatch the episode on youtube some time to see if I missed any good tidbits.

I need to email ME-TV to thank them for going back to airing the eps in the proper order. No idea what their problem was for a few weeks. Holy Detour!