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In addition to the 1966 Batman movie & TV-series, Adam West appears in the classic old sci-fi movie Robinson Crusoe On Mars
The 1989 "Batman" movie & first sequel were directed by Tim Burton, of Nightmare Before Christmas, Mars Attacks! and Beetlejuice fame
Mike Nelson of Mystery Science Theater 3000 has reviewed Val Kilmer's Batman Forever (1995), as well as The Shadow (said to be the inspiration for Batman)
The latest Batman animated movie out on DVD is "Batman vs. Dracula" in which Penguin teams up with Bram Stoker's legendary vampire
Previous month's schedules,
and movies inc. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman was created by Bob Kane in 1939 (Detective Comics), inspired by The Shadow pulp novels and radio series. Though there was never a Batman radio series to compete with The Shadow, the character did guest star occasionally in the 1940s Superman radio series (in some cases, the actor who played Superman was away, so there were Batman-only episodes of the Superman radio series). Stacy Harris, the actor who played Batman on radio, went on to star in "This Is Your FBI" on radio starting in 1945. For more info, check out the Radio page or go to the RadioSpirits.com website, I think it's currently the "Old Time Radio" button at www.Mediabay.com
By 1966 the comic book was in decline and a Batman mid-season replacement tv series (in January) played the character as a campy semi-spoof that was quickly embraced by college students, becoming an overnight sensation. Most of the episodes were an hour long, shown in two 30-minute segments on Wednesday & Thursday nights. Like old movie serials, Batman & Robin were always in some "dire predicament" at the end of part 1. The series ended its first season with both the Wednesday and Thursday episodes in the Top 10 ratings.
In September, a third half-hour was added, on Friday nights: spin-off series The Green Hornet starring a rather stiff Van Williams as the Hornet and a young kid named Bruce Lee as his crime-fighting assistant Kato (Bruce Lee also choreographed the fight scenes and tutored Burt Ward in karate). Green Hornet only lasted one year however, so in September of the following year (1967) a new character was added to Batman: that of Batgirl. Batgirl had originally been added to the comic book to cash in on the popularity of Wonder Woman (in fact the creator of the 1960s Batman Tv series also did a Wonder Woman pilot in 1967, see below). The series was now a single, self contained 30-minute episode per week until March 1968, and wasn't renewed. NBC then expressed an interest in continuing Batman but ABC had already destroyed the sets and NBC didn't want Batman if all the sets would have to be rebuilt so there were no more episodes
Was Batman ahead of it's time? Not really. But there was an episode in which King Tut steals an amber necklace. When they find his abandoned headquarters, they find the remains of the necklace. He has smashed open the bits of ancient amber and brought to life the extinct insects trapped inside...
During the 2+ year run of Batman, it became one of the hottest tv series in Hollywood. Actors that did little or no tv agreed to play villains on Batman. Cliff Robertson even spoofed his Western movies, playing an evil cowboy named Shame (more recently, he played the nasty President in the Kurt Russell movie Escape From L.A.)
Some of the other villains in the tv series:
The Penguin............Burgess Meredith The Joker..............Cesar Romero The Riddler............Frank Gorshin in several eps The Riddler............John Astin in one Egghead................Vincent Price King Tut...............Victor Buono Catwoman...............Eartha Kitt Catwoman...............Julie Newmar Mr. Freeze.............George Sanders (actor & former movie director) The Mad Hatter.........David Wayne (Ellory Queen's dad in 1970s tv series) Bookworm...............Roddy McDowell (star of Planet Of The Apes) The Archer.............Art Carney (The Archer would've killed Ralph Kramden) Lola Lasagna...........Ethel Merman Minerva................Zsa Zsa Gabor (former "Queen Of Outer Space") The Devil..............Joan Crawford The Black Widow........Tallulah Bankhead (of Hitchcock's Lifeboat) Lady Fogg..............Joan Collins Lord Fogg..............Rudy Vallee (who also guested on Night Gallery) The Puzzler............Maurice Evans (the master warlock TV's in BewitchedBatman Adam West Robin Burt Ward Alfred the Butler Alan Napier Aunt Harriet Madge Blake Chief O'Hara Stafford Repp Commissioner Gordon Neil Hamilton Barbara Gordon Yvonne Craig TV themesong Neal Hefti 1960s Batman Cast
By the way, on radio Vincent Price (Egghead) played "The Saint," based on the novel series, while George Sanders (Batman's Mr. Freeze) played the Saint in a Hollywood movie series, and Roger Moore of the James Bond movies played the Saint in a tv-series. Arnold Schwarzenegger of Conan and Terminator fame played Mr. Freeze in the recent movie.
Trivia question: was Adam West ever in a spaghetti western? Come back on a future date for the answer. Same bat website, same bat webpage Batman (1943), 15 awful episodes (he wears black long-underwear, grey swim trunks, a viking helmet, and drives a Model-T batmobile) were nevertheless well-received as Plan 9 From Outer Space type camp when an edited feature-length version was re-released in 1965.
Batman Movies & Serials
Batman & Robin (1949, aka The Return of Batman), 15 more episodes. A hooded villain is The Wizard.
Batman (1966) movie based on the tv series
Several of the Batman tv series villains also appeared in this movie. Eartha Kitt was seen as somewhat controversial for her support of black activists and was replaced as Catwoman in the movie by Lee Meriwether (her only time as Catwoman, she later costarred with Burgess Meredith in the high-tech spy series "S.E.A.R.C.H.), and in the rest of the tv series by Julie Newmar. In the movie, Penguin kidnaps the world's leaders from the U.N. Building in his submarine and uses a device to remove all moisture from their bodies, reducing each to a pile of dry chemicals (an idea later used in a Star Trek episode). Batman, Robin and the others were played by the same actors from TV. The Admiral is played by Reginald Denny.
In 1977, Adam West & Burt Ward reprised their roles in a Saturday morning cartoon series The New Adventure of Batman, which used the newly-perfected Rotoscope process for more fluid animation.
Previous cartoon series were The Batman-Superman Hour (1967-68), which replaced The Superman-Aquaman Hour (1966-67), and then Superfriends starting in 1973.
Legends Of The Superheroes (1979 tv-movie in 2 parts). In part 1, superheroes competed against supervillains in offbeat "Battle of the Network Stars" type games of skill. In part 2, Ed McMahon hosted The Roast, a mild battle of wits.
Characters/actors who took part:
Batman/Adam WestIn the 1990s, a gritty new animated series was started by the Fox network, reflecting the new Dark Knight Batman comic books, then went to first-run syndication starring mostly unknown actors, but with Mark Hamill as The Joker. Adrienne Barbeau (last seen on the Sci-Fi channel as Swamp Thing's girlfriend) is the voice of Catwoman both in the broadcast animated series and in a continuing online series that changed it's name recently to GothamGirls.com after Stan Lee's website disappeared. The online episodes run 2 to 3 minutes and feature Batgirl fighting with Catwoman and/or Poison Ivy and/or Harley Quinn. Mark Hamill and Adrienne Barbeau also guest star in the Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island animated movie.
Robin/Burt Ward
Captain Marvel/Garret Craig
Hawkman/Bill Nuckols
The Flash/Rod Haase
Huntress/Barbara Joyce
Retired Man/William Schallert
Solomon Grundy/Mickey Morton
Mordu/Gabe Dell
Black Canary/Danuta
Giganta/A'Leshia Brvard
Dr. Sivana/Howard Morris
Weather Wizard/Jeff Altman
The Riddler/Frank Gorshin
Sinistro/Charlie Callas
The third Batman hollywood movie didn't do so well, and there is serious talk of releasing a feature-length animated Batman in theaters (previous animated Batman features were seen only on tv or in video).Batman Beyond (1999)
Batman Forever
Adventures of Batman & Robin: The Joker (1994)
Adventures of Batman & Robin: Two-Face (1994)
Adventures of Batman & Robin: The Riddler (1994)
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)
Batman Returns (1992)
Batman (1989, also available on DVD)
Batman (1966, also available on DVD)
Batmania: From Comics to Screen
Batman
The Green Hornet (1940)
The Green Hornet Strikes Again (1940)
Bruce Lee and the Green Hornet (1960s).
News:
Wayne Manor burned to the ground the night of 10-5-05. In addition to serving as Bruce Wayne's mansion in the 1960s TV-series, it had been used in movies since 1932. It had been undergoing restoration by a new owner and no one was living inside at the time.How would Batman have reacted to the Muslim terrorists had they attacked the fictional Gotham City on 9/11? The world is about to find out. Frank Miller, a New Yorker himself, reinvented Batman as The Dark Knight, and can’t believe that no one so far has done a serious graphic novel about 9/11. DC Comics, owned by politically correct Time-Warner, is nervous about the project. But Miller is riding high on hit comic book creations. And two of the movies based on them, “Sin City” and “The 300,” will gross close to a Billion dollars. Two sequels to “Sin City” are being filmed back-to-back. Frank Miller’s Batman vs. The Terrorists of 9/11/01
The Dark Knight is angry.
The next Batman movie will even be titled “The Dark Knight Returns” (Miller’s 1986 graphic novel title). Hired as screenwriter on two RoboCop movies, he now plans to direct a movie in order to have more control of the finished product. To help out, Robert Rodriguez gave Miller co-directing credit on “Sin City,” costing Rodriguez his membership in the Directors Guild (he’s crying all the way to the Grindhouse). The producer of a movie based on Will Eisner’s noir creation “The Spirit” asked Miller to write and direct the movie. He refused, then changed his mind 3 minutes later cause there’s no one in Hollywood that Miller would trust to direct The Spirit properly (filming started before the end of 2007). In an interview with the L.A. Times 4-29-07, he was asked about Hollywood’s newfound respect for him: “They finally realized that my vision is the way to do it…I think I have everybody fooled now.” A certain “Sin City” star is already interested in “The Spirit.”When critics tried to claim that 300 (written a decade ago) was a parody of wars on Islam, he sneered, “I think it’s ridiculous that we set aside certain groups and say that we can’t risk offending their ancestors. Please. I’d like to say, as an American, I was deeply offended by The Last Of The Mohicans.” Then added, “We’re up against a culture that finds it acceptable to do things that the rest of the world left with the barbarians of the 6th century. I’m a little tired of people worrying about being polite. We are fighting in the face of fascists.” Zack Snyder, director of “300,” says of Miller, “I don’t think he really has politics, he just sees the world in moral terms. He’s a guy who says what he thinks and has a sense of right and wrong. He talks tough and, after September 11th, I think he’s mad…his political view is: Don’t mess with me.”
The 50 year old Miller moved to New York at age 21 to draw the gritty city he saw on TV’s Kojak, and soon became a comic book fan favorite. His characters are “solitary, haunted, honor-bound and extremely efficient at hurting people.” One Daredevil cover was clearly an homage to Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry (do you feel lucky, punk?) When Miller announced at a comic book convention in 2006 that he was working on a graphic novel about Al Qaeda attacking Gotham City with the working title “Holy Terror, Batman!” some people thought he was kidding. But he wasn’t.
He says he’s written 120 pages so far and has about 50 to go. While the title, and even the publisher, are subject to change, the project is real. When the terrorist attack hits Gotham City, Miller as the Dark Knight says, “Those clowns don’t know what terror is.” Of writing a story in which Batman takes on Muslim fanatics, it is pointed out that in the 1940s Superman, Captain America (recently killed off as too patriotic) and the Human Torch took on Nazis and Japan. “These terrorists are worse than any villain I can come up with, and I think it’s ridiculous that people in entertainment are not showing what we are up against here…I’m ready for my fatwa.”
Be sure to check out the Batman store for books, videos and DVDs available.
Batman TV-series
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Channel Date & Time Title Previous listings: Batman (1966, Adam West) Mon Sep 17 01:45A on American Movie Classics Batman (1989, Michael Keaton) Sat Jun 23 01:45P on HBO Fri Sep 28 05:30P on American Movie Classics Batman Returns (1992, Keaton) Sat Feb 10 10:30pm EST on Turner Classic Movies Sun Jul 22 10:30A on TBS Batman Forever (1995, Chris O'Donnell, Riddler: Jim Carrey) Sun Sep 16 09:40A & 5:50P on Encore Fri Sep 28 08:00P on Encore Batman & Robin (1997, Chris O'Donnell, Mr. Freeze: Schwarzenegger) Thu May 3 01:00P on Starz Fri June 1 10:45P on Starz Kids and Family Sun July 1 01:05P & 10:00P on Action Thu Jul 12 10:50P on MoviePlex Sat Sep 15 12:05P, 8pm & 5:40A on Encore Batman Begins (2005 prequel, Christian Bale, Michael Caine) Fri Sep 7 06:05P on Cinemax Mon Sep 24 05:40P on Actionmax Making of 'Batman Begins' about the origins of Gotham City's caped crusader (15 min) Sat Sep 29 01:45A on Actionmax George Lopez Show (ABC) Rita Moreno as Benny's mother, Adam West plays her lawyer in court Sun Sep 23 10:00P & 1am on Nickelodeon Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964 movie, with Adam West) (not currently scheduled) Living in TV Land profiles Adam West (2006) 30 minutes, featuring a fly-fishing challenge with caped-crusader fan Ralph Garman (The Joe Schmo Show) Last seen Dec 26, 2006 on TVLAND TV Land Awards: A Celebration of Classic TV, honors Cheers, Good Times, Batman and Dallas Adam West & Burt Ward both appear: (not currently scheduled) Ultimate Super Vixens (2005, A countdown of the Top 20 superheroines, 60 minutes) With Pamela Anderson; Jennifer Garner; Halle Berry; Angelina Jolie; and Sarah Michelle Gellar From an Avenging superspy and a revenge-seeking Bride. Adam West narrates Last seen Nov 17, 2006 on Bravo Ultimate Super Heroes, Vixens and Villains: Ultimate Super Villains (2005, 60 minutes) A countdown of the Top 20 evildoers in entertainment, Adam West narrates. Interviewed: Colin Farrell; Ben Affleck; James Cameron; Stan Lee; Robert Englund; inc. a look at James Bond villains and Batman's flamboyant nemeses (see above for 2007 listings) Biography for Kids: Batman (60 min, 2003) A look at the 1960s Batman TV-series with comment by Adam West & Burt Ward Last seen Feb 24, 2007 on Biography Channel Michael Keaton is also in Beetlejuice
1960s Batman episodes, all 3 seasons
Green Hornet episode titles (the spinoff series)Official 1960s Batman page on the SciFi Channel website inc. photo downloads Back to Monstervision or Scifans
MonsterVision's Movies Recommendations on TV & Cable for today
Batman themesong is from the Batman audio page at Wavs Of Joy