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PODCAST

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966

Like many who grew up in the "60s and "70s (and perhaps even "80s and later), Tim and Paul had the course of their lives changed by the 1966 Batman TV show, from the types of play they did growing up to their present-day interests. In this series, they discuss the show"s allure and its failures, the arc of the show from satire to sitcom, its influences (the "40s serials and the comic books themselves) and the things it, in turn, influenced. SUPPORT "To the Batpoles!" and DeconstructingComics.com via

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All Episodes

01:35:01

#095 Mego Action Figures Emerge from the Fog

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2018/10/11

We remain in Londinium, where Batman seems oddly bored by a bomb scare, and Lord Ffogg proves able to be in two places at the same time. Also, in spite of having three whole parts to work with, this story still seems to be running short of time and leaving important story points to the imagination of the viewer. Our own imaginations were stoked by hours of play as kids with the Mego World's Greatest Superheroes action figures of the '70s, and in this episode we also take a look back at some of

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01:37:16

#094 “The Londinium Larcenies” and a legacy layout in...

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2018/09/27

Double-header episode! First, we tackle The Londinium Larcenies — yes, only part one — including the original treatment by Elkan Allan (two parts, no Batgirl, no Penelope Peasoup), the sets, the music, the appeals to the Dirty Old Man Market, and more. Treatment for The Transatlantic Terror (the basis for the Londinium trilogy) by Elkan Allan Then, at last, we examine Paul's video taken at the Batman '66 exhibit at the Hollywood Museum last July, and answer the burning questions: Why did Batman's

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01:53:34

#093 The Tale of “The Cat’s Tale”

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2018/09/13

As we saw a few episodes back, in 1965 Peggy Shaw turned in a script called Fashions in Crime, based on the 1948 comics story of the same name, and beset by script elements that would work in a comic but would be tough to film. Shaw's script was apparently handed to writer Stephen Kandel to rework. The resulting 1966 work, The Cat's Tale, solves many of the problems of Shaw's script, in part by totally abandoning it halfway through. Still, it ultimately wasn't used. In this episode, Tim & Paul

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01:31:15

#092 BATMANIA pt 2: Is nothing impossible?

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2018/08/30

The appearance of Biljo White's fanzine BATMANIA was well timed. Not only did it contain coverage of, and fan reaction to, the New Look Batman of the comics, but also covered the mid-sixties resurgence of the 1940s Batman serials, and meteoric rise and fall of the '66 TV show. While some Batmanians accepted that Hollywood was never going to give them a better filmed Batman than this, others railed against the show "making fun of" the Dynamic Duo, and placed much of the blame squarely on Lorenzo

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01:43:10

#091 BATMANIA pt 1: Comics Fans Connect

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2018/08/16

BATMANIA was a well-made fanzine that was started by Columbia, MO, fireman Biljo White in 1964, concurrent with the introduction of New Look Batman by DC. Reading it revealed so many interesting things about the Batman fandom of the sixties that we can't cram it all into one episode! So this time, in part one of our examination of BATMANIA, we (gasp!) set the TV show aside and focus on explaining just what was in this publication, who the now-famous (among comics fans) names were that appeared

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01:47:49

#090 Surf’s Up, Joker’s Under, and Al’s On!

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2018/08/02

Surf's Up, Joker's Under is perhaps the most polarizing episode of Batman. Some call it their favorite of season three, or even of the whole series, while Joel Eisner has called it "by far, one of the worst Joker episodes," and even '66 Joker himself Cesar Romero didn't like it. Why is this episode so divisive? Why do the villains in season three keep thinking that taking over one small segment of society (surfing, boxing, flower children) will lead to world domination, without ever explaining Step

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01:41:14

#089 “Fashions in Crime”: Hard-Boiled Batman '66

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2018/07/19

In late in 1965, writer Peggy Shaw (a.k.a. Peggy O'Shea) submitted a Batman script called Fashions in Crime. It was based on a story of the same title from Batman 47 (1948), but naturally much expanded, and it shows signs that Shaw must have been reading Lorenzo Semple Jr.'s early Batman scripts (e.g. Hi Diddle Riddle and The Joker Goes to School). While parts of the script fit the tone of Batman '66, others would have been better suited to a Mickey Spillane novel. In this episode, Tim and Paul

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01:46:20

#088 Holy hyperbole! It's Burt Ward's book!

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2018/07/05

Burt Ward's 1995 memoir Boy Wonder: My Life in Tights, while it does give us some insight into what it was like to go from nothing to superfame to typecast purgatory, is indisuputabily full of inaccuracies and hyperbole -- not to mention much more (in terms of both quantity and cringe-inducing detail) about his sexual conquests and misadventures than there is material of use to Batman '66 scholars. Why? Is this what the majority of fans want? Is this simply to be expected from a Hollywood memoir

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01:21:57

#087 An Eggsasperating Eggsercise

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2018/06/21

The season three episodes The Ogg and I and How to Hatch a Dinosaur are a two-parter in which the parts have virtually no common story elements, only the same villains: Egghead, and Olga, Queen of the Cossacks. Both actors, Vincent Price and Anne Baxter, do a great job but ultimately aren't given much to work with. In this episode, we discuss the original arrangement of the three Egghead/Olga episodes; the theme of eating that runs through both of these; the disappointing characterizations of both

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01:31:00

#086 “Louie, The Lilac”: Please Omit Important Scenes

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2018/06/07

Louie, The Lilac is a surprising episode for how un-Uncle Milty-like Milton Berle's performance is. It's also uneven, with some nice camera shots, but also many poorly-presented plot points — and some that aren't presented at all! We do get a few scenes of Gotham City's flower children — and just what is the show's take on that movement? How much social commentary might there be hiding among the lilacs? In this episode we compare this season three Batman episode to its ancestor, Dwight Taylor's

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01:40:24

#085 "Batman '89" Turns our Heads

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2018/05/24

The 1989 Batman movie was the result of a decade of pitching, rewriting, and personnel changes. It made a Batcave full of money, but is it a good Batman film? Tim and Paul revisit Tim Burton's first try at Batman, starring Jack Nicholson and Michael Keaton, after not watching it since it was first run in theaters. Does it look any different now? Does it look any better than it did? How were the film and its development affected by the Adam West iteration of live-action Batman? PLUS: The Piano Guys'

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02:21:20

#084 Pies at the Penguin’s Nest; Goofs to which...

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2018/05/10

In 1966, after being the writer and script editor who got the '66 series off the ground, Lorenzo Semple Jr. yielded his chair to Charles Hoffman. What would a look at the draft of a season two Semple script reveal about how Hoffman edited Semple? That was the question Ben Bentley, a moderator of the '66 Batman Message Board (bow like Ewoks, everybody!), wondered, so when Tim was asking for suggestions of which Bat-scripts to scan in Laramie, Ben suggested The Penguin's Nest. In this episode, he

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01:53:21

#083 Fitting Batman '66 into "The Caped Crusade"

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2018/04/26

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

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01:38:02

#082 Buono, How We Love Ya

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2018/04/12

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)

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02:01:06

#081 Donna Loren takes us to School

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2018/03/29

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

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01:30:20

#080 The ’66 Batman comic strip: Having it both ways

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2018/03/15

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

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01:00

Programming update - Our return is days away!

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2018/03/11

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

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0:54

NOTICE -- podcast delay

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2018/01/15

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

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01:31:02

#079 There’s no business like horse business

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2018/01/04

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

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01:41:35

#078 "Pop Goes the Joker" script: The Batpole signs...

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2017/12/21

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

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