To The Batpoles! Batman 1966

The debut of Batman '66 caused a backlash among Batman nerds, who subsequently demanded Batman comics that reverted to the dark, sullen loner version of the character. But why did the nerds (and Bob Kane himself!) expect a version of Batman who really hadn't been seen since Robin came on the scene in 1940? While Batman as played by Adam West is funny in spite of himself, does this mean the show was saying heroism itself was ridiculous? In this episode, Tim and Paul examine these questions and more as they review Glen Weldon's "The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture." ALSO: Tim enlists American Heritage Center proxy researcher Oscar to dig into a couple of pervasive but questionable ideas about the show, and gets a few unrelated interesting facts about William Dozier; the Batman theme as performed by the Hi-Fives (who?!), and your mail!  

Why on earth does "The Unkindest Tut of All" feature a King Tut claiming to have precognitive abilities? Could it be because Stanley Ralph Ross wanted to use a certain jokey title for the episode? Why is Batgirl such an afterthought here? In this episode, we take a look at this season three episode alongside Ross' ten-page treatment for the story (originally titled "Swami, How I Love Ya"), which gives us some insight into the thought process behind this somewhat puzzling (but also amusing) bat-installment. ALSO: we go camping with Victor Buono; we visit the lab to review the 66 Message Board's discussion of the Fourth Season Myth; we boogie to the Flying Horse Big Band's take on the theme; and we read your mail!   Will the real Patti Gilbert please stand up? On That Girl (left) and Batman.  

In 1965, Lorenzo Semple Jr. wrote the first scripts for the Batman series. Any Bat-fan knows that the Hi Diddle Riddle and Fine Feathered Finks arcs were the first to be written and first to be broadcast. What many of us didn't know was that The Joker Goes to School was also part of that set, received by Howie Horwitz just 20 days after Finks. In this episode, Tim and Paul look over that first draft for more hints to decisions made behind the scenes. Starring in that arc as Susie the Cheerleader was Donna Loren, perhaps best known for Beach Blanket Bingo, but also for singing on Shindig, advertising Dr. Pepper, and appearing on various other '60s shows. In this episode, Tim interviews her for her memories of shooting the School episodes, playing a bad girl for once, whether she actually liked Dr. Pepper, and more! Plus, the Bruce and the Robin Rockers version of the theme, and your mail on the Pop Goes the Joker script! "The Joker Goes to School" PDF script "The Joker Goes to School" thread on the '66 Batman

We're back! In the thick of the 1966 Batman boom, Ledger Syndicate and DC debuted a new Batman comic strip. Written by Whitney Ellsworth and drawn by Sheldon Moldoff (and, in turn, by Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella), the early strips seem to want to simultaneously imitate the 66 TV show, and differentiate itself from it. In this episode, we talk about IDW's collection of the early strips in Batman with Robin: The Silver Age Newspaper Comics Volume 1 (1966-1967), including the schizophrenic quality of the strip, where the strip succeeds, and where it falls short. Plus, the mahalo.com guitar tutorial version of the theme, and your mail on the Stanley Ralph Ross interview (and the infamous Gemini 8/Catwoman incident!).  

TO THE BATPOLES! returns this Thursday, March 15, with our long-promised discussion of the 1966 Batman comic strip! Next up, a look at the draft script for THE JOKER GOES TO SCHOOL! Still time to look it over and give your comments before we record that episode -- follow the links below! "The Joker Goes to School" PDF script "The Joker Goes to School" thread on the '66 Batman message board

"To the Batpoles!" is taking some down time. Listen for the details.

In the first two-parter of season three, Penguin and Lola Lasagne horse around with the Wayne Foundation's charity horse race. Before getting in the saddle, Tim and Paul first look at some background on season three: shooting order of episodes, the reasons for multi-part season three stories, etc. The Sport of Penguins and A Horse of Another Color are a rather strange pair of episodes. In spite of having two whole episodes, the producers still skip important scenes, as was typical of the one-part Batman stories. Besides the problem of "checking in" with all the characters, what else might have been making them short of time? And why are these (supposedly) Billy May-scored episodes so full of of recycled Nelson Riddle music? Were Burgess Meredith and Ethel Merman "comedy gold" together? With a Charles Hoffman script?! How should we think about those "next week's villain" scenes that don't fit into the continuity of the episodes they promote? Also, the Bob Kuban and the In-Men version of the theme, and your ma

  At first glance, Stanford Sherman's draft script of Pop Goes the Joker doesn't seem to vary much from the final. A few minor oversights of Sherman's were fixed (Oh, there are signs on the Batpoles?), and there were the usual cuts to lines to keep within the allotted time. But look a little deeper, and there are places where decisions by director George Waggner hurt or helped the arc, some interesting removed bits that we would've liked to see (and a stage direction we're glad wasn't taken literally!), and some subtle but important changes in how Baby Jane Towser was portrayed. Tim and Paul explore the development of this surprisingly good late season two episode. PLUS: A possible reason for why Stanley Ralph Ross "hated" Dr. Cassandra, the Garry Tallent version of the theme, and a heaping helping of your mail! "Pop Goes the Joker" PDF script "Pop Goes the Joker" thread on the '66 Batman message board "The Joker Goes to School" PDF script "The Joker Goes to School" thread on the '66 Batman message board

Bat-fans with any awareness of which writer wrote which Bat-script have long had a love-hate relationship with Stanley Ralph Ross, one of the most prolific of the show's scribes. In season one, he co-wrote one of the most acclaimed arcs of the series, "The Purrfect Crime"/"Better Luck Next Time". On the other hand, he's also responsible for such disasters as the Archer story, and played a large role in the show's shift from Semplian play-it-straight humor to gags that would have been at home on Milton Berle's show. In this episode, we analyze a 1998 interview with Ross: what it tells us about him as a person and a writer, and the various holes it fills in our understanding of Batman and Ross' contributions to it. Plus, Francesco Alcozer's version of the theme, and your mail!

When you want analysis of Joan Collins' appearance as the Siren, there's only one man to call: High C! He's a mainstay of the all-seeing, all-knowing 66 Batman message board, and has made "The Wail of the Siren" a focus of much research. In this episode, we have him on the show to discuss the various versions of the script, at least one scene that was filmed and not used, the provenance of the Batgirl theme lyrics (which made their facepalm-inducing debut in this episode), what Collins and Adam West wrote about each other in their respective memoirs, and much more. Plus, the Guana Batz' version of the theme, and your mail! Stanley Ralph Ross' original treatment for The Wail of the Siren The Wail of the Siren, first draft The Wail of the Siren, final draft   The "omake" section of Batgirlbat-trap.com, including numerous articles on Siren/Joan Collins by High C! Joan in the 1969 movie "Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?" From the cut scene. Perhaps right after the Lorele

It's time to dig into another draft script, and another by Stanley Ralph Ross: That Darned Catwoman! We find many things that were left out of the broadcast version—some to our regret, others to our relief! In place of Pussycat, we have Poison Ivy. Is this the Ivy of the comics? Why might the character have been changed to Pussycat? We additionally see how Ross' attempts at cinematic set-pieces, and to keep promises made in the season two promo to display the new bat-vehicles, were foiled by the budgetary axe. Also: What does this draft tell us about the story of Ross intentionally cutting Burt Ward's lines? Why does this script have so many 1920s-1930s crime fiction references (many of which didn't make it to the screen)? Plus, the V-Rangers version of the theme, the announcement of our next bat-script, and your mail! "That Darned Catwoman" PDF script "That Darned Catwoman" thread on the '66 Batman message board "Pop Goes the Joker" PDF script "Pop Goes the Joker" thread on the '66 Batman message board  

At last, Batman '66 faces Two-Face! Adam West's final turn as Batman pits him against his classic-TV contemporary, William Shatner, in the animated release Batman vs. Two-Face! Producer James Tucker has said that last year's Return of the Caped Crusaders imitated the feel of seasons 2 and 3 of the original TV show, while this one has a season-one tone... but Tim and Paul beg to differ. The film again prompts us to wonder: would Two-Face have worked as a '66 villain? Why did they choose this particular villain for the second movie? Meanwhile, in the Bat-Research Lab, a breakthrough in the search for answers on the Legends of the Superheroes cowl! And your mail inspires more conversation about whether Batman '66 was a sitcom, and just what qualifies to be called that. Adam West confesses: "I have some gear!"

Frank Gorshin returns for one more round as the Riddler. Is he as good as ever, or down for the count? Does Joan Collins' appearance as Siren steal Gorshin's screen time? Is Riddler's alias Mushi Nebuchadnezzar meant as a Muhammad Ali reference? Is Batgirl way smarter than the Dynamic Duo, or is she just written that way? In our Camping Trip, Paul notes how the brisk pace of season three episodes has abbreviated the camp moments as well. Also, in the Bat Research Lab, we look at a late-'70s take on the '66 show from Gary Gerani's book "Fantastic Television." Plus, a metal version of Hefti's Bat-theme from 331 Erock, and your mail! Read the draft script of Ring Around the Riddler Batman 1966 Meets Metal Bat-Lava Soap Commercial

It's time to dig into another script: Stanley Ralph Ross's first draft of Shoot a Crooked Arrow/Walk the Straight and Narrow (take a look at the script here!). Most bat-fans agree, this is a less-than-satisfying arc for a number of reasons, from the casting of the villain to some seemingly nonsensical plotting late in part one. Reading the script helps us understand what was supposed to happen there: Why did Batman say he was going to cut open the net that he and Robin were trapped in, and then not do it? What was the point of Archer pretending to decapitate Alfred? It also raises some questions: How should Archer have been played? Totally British and debonair? Or maybe as a Jerseyite trying to speak with a British accent? Is Alan A. Dale meant as a wink to the gay audience, or the homophobe's caricature of a gay man? And, it answers the question: If I'm making a TV show, what happens if the screenwriter and/or director lets jokes and important story points go underemphasized? Answer: This arc! ALSO: The Lab

In 1949, six years after the wartime Batman serial, Columbia Pictures tried again with New Adventures of Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder, with a completely new cast and somewhat changed bat-tableau. Typical of that era's serials, the production values are cheap, the script is full of illogical behavior and red-herring "clues", and the acting is something well short of Olivier. But it's instructive in how 1940s entertainment was made for an audience of nine-year-olds with no access to a "rewind" button. But was the '49 serial a major source of inspiration for the '66 TV series? We examine the evidence, in as much context as we can muster, and then we read your mail! Delmar Sherrill's "Stardust" column on movie serials (in Statesville (NC) Daily Record, 5/31/49) Old Batman Serials Win Praise as Single Movie (AP report in High Point (NC) Express, 12/11/65) Will Batman revive Saturday serial? (by Bob Thomas in The Evening News (Sault Sainte Marie, MI), 3/3/66) HONK article mentioning William Fawcett's aborted ap

It's Batgirl! She's in Gotham City, and she's here to save the Batman TV show! (Did it work? Spoiler alert: Not so much.) We look at the process that brought the Barbara Gordon iteration of Batgirl to the comics and to the screen, and give our impressions of the unbroadcast pilot and the first Season Three episode, Enter Batgirl, Exit Penguin! Then, Tim at last describes his visit to the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming in Laramie (see photos below), including what's involved in getting there and getting access to their huge stash of Batman scripts; which scripts he now has scans of; and... just how did William Dozier's papers end up in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains? Also, the Batman theme as performed by Screaming Urge with Don Bovee, and your mail!   Neil Hamilton and Yvonne Craig in "Perry Mason: The Case of the Lazy Lover" Perry Mason S01e35 The Case Of The Lazy Lover Posted by dmdm228 The Recycled Newspaper From "Batman is Riled", broadcast January 27, 1966. From "Enter B

In the wake of Adam West's not-so-recent passing, we felt compelled to do a "thanks for the memories, Adam" episode. But, well, every episode functions as that, so this time, we present the memories of many other bat-fans who grew up watching Adam & co. in syndication (and, in two cases, on Wednesday and Thursday nights in the '60s!). Not coincidentally, our guests are now working in comics themselves.... With one exception: our mom, Joann! Tim interviewed her while visiting home last month, to hear her memories of our Bat-fandom, and how her sewing skills helped to augment that fandom! 11:43 Ken Holtzhouser 14:16 Dale Lazarov, writer and art director of Sticky Graphic Novels Chicago, IL 19:54 Dylan Maconis, Outfoxed Karl Kesel, writer and inker of various Marvel and DC comics Helioscope Studio, Portland, OR 30:50 Cat Farris, The Last Diplomat Helioscope Studio, Portland, OR 37:00 Christopher Jones, artist on many titles including The Batman Strikes, Batman '66 #7 (False Face), Dr. Who Minneap

This time we convene in the place where the batmania started (for us): Centerville, Iowa! This is the town where we lived when we first fell in love with the show. We happen to be here just as we’ve finished watching season two, and we take the opportunity to compare the first two seasons. (Few would argue that there wasn’t a dropoff in quality as the series progressed, notably in the writing and the type of humor presented...or, does it just seem that way because the Lorenzo Semple take on the concept is our favorite?) Taking the slide in quality as a given, we have to ask: Was this slide inevitable, or could it have been avoided? What were the reasons for the slide? What’s the best attitude to take as we advance, trepidatiously, into season three? Also, Ric Napoli’s very interesting take on the Batman theme (and on our podcast!); a look back at our 1977 auto show meetup with Adam West (which cowl was he wearing??); and a Bat-mailbag overflowing with your thought-provoking missives! Paul in blue shirt. Sis

Though it's not the fault of Eli Wallach, his turn as Mr. Freeze ends the second season on a weak note. Of course, there are a few strong points, such as Batman's phone chat with Bruce Wayne, and yet another perfect Gotham City Police slogan from Commissioner Gordon. We discuss how Wallach ended up in the role, the reasons this arc doesn't pass the English Major test (including the reference to Rabelais), the over-dependence on stock footage, Robin's difficulties this time around, and more. Plus: The Tallulah Bankhead/George Raft connection, and your mail!  

If you thought our Black Widow episode was a total camping trip, our take on season two’s final Joker appearance may be even more so! Intentionally or not, Caesar Romero’s take this time has plenty of gay overtones. At the same time, the Joker is somehow more emotional and human this time. But has he become less intelligent? But the arc’s stated subject is pop art, and its opinion is: it sucks. But Stanford Sherman’s don’t-know-don’t-care attitude about pop art (and sniggering at critics’ reception toward it) is part of what makes this arc so hilarious. Also, what does this episode say about the real mission of Batman and Robin? Plus, in the Bat Research Lab, the Legends of the Superheroes cowl mystery continues; the surprising answer to the question “Just who is Mother Machree, anyway?”; and Tim’s upcoming visit to the William Dozier archives (scroll down the left-side menu for the link to "Scripts Television", and send us your wish list by August 2!) Also, the Voivod version of the Batman theme, and yo