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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

01:41:35

#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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01:39:36

#077 Stanley Ralph Ross: Love 'im, Hate 'im

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2017/12/07

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

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01:31:54

#076 A “Wail” of a time with Siren and High C!

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2017/11/30

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

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01:38:14

#075 Reading Ross’ Draft Script “That Darned Catwoman”

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2017/11/16

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

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01:59:35

#074 "Batman vs. Two-Face"

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2017/11/02

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

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01:57:42

#073 Frank Gorshin returns - Don’t blink or you’ll...

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2017/10/19

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

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02:15:22

#072 Archer, first draft: Why the Arrow Flew Crooked

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2017/10/05

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

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02:25:24

#071 Batman ’49: So bad, it….. might not be bad?

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2017/09/21

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"

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02:11:33

#070 Batgirl comes to Gotham, Tim goes to Laramie

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2017/09/07

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

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02:03:33

#069 Remembering Adam West: Our Lives With Batman

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2017/08/31

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

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01:28:47

#068 Season Two vs. Season One: Was the slide...

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2017/08/17

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

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01:33:20

#067 “Ice Spy”: Frozen turkey

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2017/08/03

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:

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01:46:22

#066 This Joker Really Pops!

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2017/07/20

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’

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01:50:46

#065 The Black Widow Goes Camping .... DAAAAH-ling

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2017/07/06

Tallulah Bankhead, nearing the end of her career, appeared on Batman as the Black Widow in March 1967, in an episode that seems to be running on the theme of “bad judgement”. Did writer Robert Mintz have the bad judgement to pun on Bankhead’s name? (Probably not.) How was Bankhead’s judgement in life? What does Tim judge to have been his favorite part of the usual formula for each arc? We also touch on some ways in which this late season two arc differs from early season one — but characters

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01:32:30

#064 Bat-manga!

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2017/06/29

In 1966, the Batman TV show was big in numerous countries, including Tim’s adopted home of Japan, where it led to the licensed creation of a series of Japanese Batman comics. While the purpose of the comics (written and drawn by Jiro Kuwata) was to cash in on the show’s popularity, the stories are based on Batman comics of the early ‘60s and before, though often greatly decompressed, with added elements, and sometimes just freeform weirdness. In this episode, manga translator Kumar Sivasubramanian

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01:54:38

#063 Goodbye, Adam West; Hello, King Tut

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2017/06/15

This episode, we first must tip our hats to our favorite caped crusader, Adam West, who passed away June 9 at 88. What was that magic touch he had as an actor? Would the show even have been the show without him? Then it’s onward with King Tut’s Coup and Batman’s Waterloo. Do these two episodes make up the best King Tut arc so far? If so, in what ways? Was Robin’s part in this arc intentionally minimized? Is the cheapening of the production starting to show through that much more? PLUS: The

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01:30:01

#062 Batman vs. Green Hornet: Blue, Green, and Pink

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2017/06/01

It’s the showdown of the century… Bruce Lee vs Burt Ward! Or at least, that seems to have been how some young viewers — and Lee himself — saw this arc! As the Green Hornet and Kato visit Gotham, we dig into Lee’s seeming obsession with Ward. So why did the Hornet appear on Batman? Does the Hornet bring his own tone, or get his tone changed for him by Batman? Paul notes how different the Hornet looks with Batman cinematography. Meanwhile, Roger C. Carmel’s character Colonel Gumm, dismissed by most

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01:48:21

#061 Who is the Green Hornet?

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2017/05/18

In September 1966, William Dozier’s Greenway Productions debuted its new series The Green Hornet. Originally a radio series beginning in 1936, the Green Hornet has also appeared in movie serials and comic books, and a 2011 movie. In this episode, we look at the character’s history, how the TV series came to be and the mark it left on the property (particularly on how the Hornet’s assistant Kato is portrayed), and the two principals, Van Williams and Bruce Lee. How did the show affect the

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01:31:57

#060 Catwoman goes for her M.R.S. degree

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2017/05/04

Catwoman goes to college, but says she can’t go straight without “the love of a good man.” And yet, she keeps trying to kill that good man! Even so, the sexual tension between bat and cat gives us a surprisingly long, natural-seeming conversation between the two to close out Julie Newmar’s final bat-appearance. In this episode, we also discuss the broadcast order of the Catwoman episodes, vs how they might actually fit together; the seemingly endless reduplication of Batman (and Bruce Wayne, and

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01:33:57

#059 Semple’s Last Laugh

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2017/04/20

“The Joker’s Last Laugh” arc is Lorenzo Semple Jr.’s last writing for “Batman”, a teleplay from a story written by crime novelist Peter Rabe. But that story originally featured Two-Face! (Read the treatment here. Thanks to High C for providing!) The Joker version contains at least one vestige of the Twofaceiness of the original story, and also shows Semple seeming to comment on the sitcom that the series had become. Other topics include: how we, too, were driven crazy by laugh tracks; the history

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