Every afternoon after school I rushed home for my super hero fix , first was George Reeves as Superman THEN came Batman , One hundred and twenty episodes aired in various parts of the planet , in my case Channel 7 Sydney, for three seasons from January 12, 1966, to March 14, 1968 and then ad infinitum in re-runs (which is only a good thing)
The series was about the adventures of Batman and Robin and the lives of their alter-egos, millionaire Bruce Wayne and his ward Dick Grayson, although the private life stuff was usually only briefly, as they were always being called away on superhero business.
"Dynamic Duo" typically come to the aid of the Gotham City Police upon the latter being stumped by a supervillain. Throughout each episode, Batman and Robin have to follow a series of vastly improbable, but ultimately solvable clues, to rought the weekly villain's plan,
A catch-phrase popularized by the series was Robin's saying "Holy [subject], Batman!" whenever he encountered something startling. This phrase was parodied in the 1995 film Batman Forever.
The series used a narrator (executive producer William Dozier, who after watching the doco about the show, Didnt seem like he wanted to do the show at all, he constantly bagged it BUT he obviously took the cash, Dozier parodied both the breathless narration style of the 1940s Super hero serials He would end many of the cliffhanger episodes by intoning, "Tune in tomorrow — same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!"
In many episodes, Batman and Robin must get to a high point of a building or other structure. They do this via the Batrope which is thrown and anchored above the high point, and which Batman and Robin climb by walking up the side of the structure with the aid of the rope.
The Batpoles were cunningly hidden
behind a bookcase which was activated by pressing a button In Bill Shakespeares head
which were usually given a ridiculous-sounding name that somehow incorporated the word "bat" — often simply by adding the word "bat" to an otherwise normal descriptor, such as Shark Repellant Bat-Spray, Bat-Computer, Extra-Strong Bat-Knockout Gas, etc. Most of Batman's items in the Batcave, bat-vehicles and on the utility belt were given superfluous and simplistic block-letter labels, even though Batman, Robin and Alfred, the only people who used the equipment, clearly knew what all of it was.
Adam West as Bruce Wayne / Batman: A millionaire whose parents were murdered by criminals, he now secretly uses his vast fortune to fight crime as Batman. Producer William Dozier cast Adam West in the role after seeing him perform as the James Bond-like spy Captain Q in a Nestlé Quik television ad. Lyle Waggoner had screen-tested for the role, though West ultimately won out because, it was said, he was the only person who could deliver the hilarious lines with a straight face. West later voiced an animated version of the title character on The New Adventures of Batman and well as Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show and The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians.
Burt Ward as Dick Grayson / Robin: Batman's faithful (if overly eager) partner and "Boy Wonder", a high school student noted for his recurring interjections in the form of "Holy ________, Batman!" (The series avoided referencing Robin's origins as Bruce Wayne's fellow "crime orphan", as whose legal guardian the courts appoint Bruce.)
Alan Napier as Alfred: Batman's loyal butler and Batgirl's discreet confidant. He is the only person who knows the true identities of Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon.
Madge Blake as Harriet Cooper: Dick Grayson's maternal aunt. She first appeared in the comics, two years before the series premiered, to give Bruce and Dick a reason to be secretive about their dual identities.
Neil Hamilton as Commissioner Gordon: The Commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department and one of Batman's two major police contacts. He summons the Dynamic Duo via the Batphone or the Bat Signal.
Stafford Repp as Chief O'Hara: Gotham City's Chief of Police, and Batman's other major police contact. The character was created by Semple for the series, as someone for Gordon to talk to, and later briefly added to the comics.
Yvonne Craig as Barbara Gordon / Batgirl: Commissioner Gordon's daughter, Gotham City librarian and crime fighting partner for Batman and Robin for the third season. Occasionally this threesome was nicknamed the "Terrific Trio".
William Dozier - Executive producer, creator, and narrator (uncredited).
Despite the regular beating the snot out of baddies on the show, Batman and Robin typically use non-lethal force; only three criminal characters die during the series: the Riddler's moll Molly (played by Jill St. John in the pilot episode), who accidentally falls into the Batcave's atomic reactor, and two out-of-town gunmen who shoot at Batman and Robin, but kill each other instead, toward the end of "Zelda The Great/A Death Worse Than Fate".
In the film, six criminals die in total: Five henchmen are dehydrated by the Penguin in order to infiltrate the Batcave, but this plan fails when the henchmen unexpectedly disappear into antimatter once struck. A sixth henchman is presumably killed when he is caught in a trap meant for Batman and sprung into an exploding octopus. Twice, the Catwoman (Julie Newmar) appears to fall to her death (into a bottomless pit and from a high building into a river), but returned in later episodes; as a "cat", she presumably has nine lives.
In "Instant Freeze", Mr. Freeze freezes a butler solid and knocks him over, and sound-effects suggest that he is shattered into pieces. A later reference suggests the butler survived. In "Green Ice", Mr. Freeze freezes a policeman solid; it is left unclear whether he survived. In "The Penguin's Nest", a policeman suffers an electric shock at the hands of the Penguin's accomplices, but he is presumed to survive, as he appears in some later episodes.
The villains commonly have henchmen whose names are somehow associated with the villain's identity; for example, Catwoman's henchmen have cat-related names like Felix and Leo. Characters commonly use alliterations. Examples include Batman referring to the Joker as a "hateful harlequin" and the Penguin calling Catwoman a "feline floozy".
Only two of the show's guest villains ever discovered Batman's true identity: Egghead by deductive reasoning, and King Tut on two occasions — the first time with a bug placed on the Batmobile and the second time by accidentally mining into the Batcave. Egghead was tricked into disbelieving his discovery, though, as was Tut in the episode when he bugged the Batmobile. In the episode when Tut tunneled into the Batcave, he was hit on the head by a rock, which made him forget his discovery and jarred him back into his identity as a mild-mannered professor of Egyptology at Yale University. While under the spell of the Siren (Joan Collins), Commissioner Gordon found the Batcave beneath Wayne Manor and deduced Batman's true identity, but Alfred gassed him to prevent his informing her, the memory of the discovery gone after leaving the Siren's spell.
Cesar Romero as the Joker...A green haired, purple suited clown with a maniacal laugh who leaves behind jokes as clues to his next crime.
Burgess Meredith as the Penguin...A waddling, cackling, umbrella-wielding menace in a top hat and monocle.
The Riddler played by:
Frank Gorshin (seasons 1 & 3 and the movie), John Astin (season 2)...A giggling fiend whose costume alternates between green tights or a green derby and suit, both accented with question marks. He taunts Gotham City and the Caped Crusader with riddles.
The Catwoman played by:
Julie Newmar (seasons 1 and 2), Eartha Kitt (season 3), Lee Meriwether (movie)..
A purring feline seductress in a tight black bodysuit with designs on Gotham City's riches and Batman himself.
Victor Buono as Professor William McElroy / King Tut...An Egyptologist with a split personality, who divides his time between being a university professor and a reincarnated version of the centuries old pharaoh.
Mr. Freeze played by:
George Sanders (season 1), Otto Preminger (season 2), Eli Wallach (season 2)...
A cool, cruel crook who must dwell in an environment 50 degrees below zero. His weapon of choice is a freeze ray gun.
David Wayne as Jervis Tetch / Mad Hatter...A formally dressed baddie with a weakness for collecting hats.
Vincent Price as Egghead...A smug, bald headed genius whose crimes and speech patterns always involve eggs. ("Egg-zactly.")
Carolyn Jones as Marsha, Queen of Diamonds...A stunning, jewel-bedecked enchantress with very expensive tastes.
Cliff Robertson as Shame...A none too bright cowpoke whose partners at various times include Okie Annie and Calamity Jan.
Anne Baxter as Olga, Queen of the Cossacks...A Russian-accented redhead in cahoots with Egghead.
Milton Berle as Louie the Lilac...A stogie puffing gangster with an unhealthy attraction for flowers.
The Green Hornet and Kato
Van Williams and Bruce Lee made a cameo appearance as the Green Hornet and Kato in "window cameos" while the Batman and Robin scaled a building. This was in part one of a two-part second-season episode of the Batman TV series, "The Spell of Tut", which aired on September 28, 1966.
Later that same season, the Green Hornet and Kato appeared in the two-part second-season episodes A Piece of the Action and Batman's Satisfaction, which aired on March 1–2, 1967. In these two episodes, the Green Hornet and Kato are in Gotham City to bust a counterfeit stamp ring run by Colonel Gumm (portrayed by Roger C. Carmel).
The Batman's Satisfaction episode leads to a mixed fight, with both Batman & Robin and The Green Hornet & Kato fighting Colonel Gumm and his gang. Once Gumm's crew was defeated, Batman and Robin squared off against The Green Hornet and Kato, resulting in a stand-off that was interrupted by the police. In this episode, Batman, Robin and the police consider the Green Hornet and Kato to be criminals, although Batman and Robin were cordial to the duo in the earlier window appearance.
There is also a mention of The Green Hornet TV series on the Batman TV series episode The Impractical Joker (episode 55, Part 1, aired November 16, 1966): while watching TV together, Alfred, Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne (who says, "It's time to watch The Green Hornet", and you hear the Hornet buzzing sound) are interrupted by the Joker; then, after the interruption, The Green Hornet TV series theme music is heard.
SO there you go a bat blog
RIP Adam
Was about to call you out on the labeling of Roger "E" Carmel in the photo, however, you used his correct name in the text.
ReplyDeleteI still think it needs to be fixed.