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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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01:31:29

#170 Power Bat-Records

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2021/10/14

In the mid-1970s, Power Records (a division of Peter Pan records) released audio stories of a number of popular properties, including Batman. Two volumes were released of four stories each, and some of the stories were then released as 7” “singles” complete with a comics version of the same story. Occasional elements in the stories were echos of the ’66 show. While the Power Records superhero discography utterly passed Tim and Paul by at the time, JB Anderton was really into them. JB, creator of

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01:30:35

#169 “Instant Freeze” script: We don’t love a parade

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2021/09/30

Mr. Zero? Dr. Schimmel? No, Mr. Freeze! In Max Hodge’s first draft of Instant Freeze, the comics villain Mr. Zero, for reasons we discussed last episode, became Mr. Freeze. But the script contains many more references to his “real” name, Dr. Schimmel, than made it to what was broadcast. Why? Where’d this script's unexplained parade come from? What would the Batman series have been like with more animation effects on the screen, outside of the Batfights? All this and more as we dig into a

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01:52:14

#168 “Dick Tracy” and “Wonder Woman”: The Dozierverse...

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2021/09/16

In 1966, William Dozier’s Greenway Productions was riding high, seemingly on the verge of building a TV empire built on superheroes: first Batman, then the Green Hornet. Why not keep going in that direction? An entire pilot episode of Dick Tracy was made, starring Ray MacDonnell, and all signs point to Dozier having confidence that the show would be bought by NBC - but it wasn’t. Meanwhile, Greenway also made a test film for Wonder Woman, starring Ellie Wood Walker, with a script that would have

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01:21:12

#167 Tom Peyer talks “Batman 66” and “The Wrong Earth”

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2021/09/02

The Wrong Earth, written by Tom Peyer, is a comics series in which the super-square Dragonflyman and grim & gritty Dragonfly find themselves on each other’s versions of earth. In the second volume, recently concluded, the two meet each other on yet another earth. Peyer, editor-in-chief at Ahoy Comics, is an industry veteran with many writing credits under his belt, including for the Batman ’66 comics series. This time, Tom joins us to discuss our favorite show and what The Wrong Earth might tell us

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01:18:12

#166 "Batman and Robin": Hot and "Kalt"

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2021/08/19

Batman and Robin (1997) is notorious as one of the worst Batman films, panned by both audiences and critics. But wait a minute. All four of the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher Batman films have their problems. Doesn't B&R's story hold together relatively well? Isn't it kind of .... entertaining? Could it actually be the best of the four? Of course it's far from perfect, and we discuss some of its problems, including a pretty un-Batman-like Batman and a misguided "homage" to Batman '66. We discuss the

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01:11:46

#165 Mr. Freeze(s)

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2021/08/05

As any Batman ’66 fan knows, three different actors played the villain Mr. Freeze on the show: George Sanders, Otto Preminger, and Eli Wallach. Any discussion of Mr. Freeze on the show prompts the question: Which Freeze do you like best? And, which Freeze script do you like best? In this episode, we give our answers to those questions, as well as exploring how the show set the course for the character in the comics (at least until Paul Dini changed it in 1992), potential reasons for the lack of Mr

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01:34:31

#164 "The Curse of Tut" scripts: Rondeau and Buono...

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2021/07/22

Lorenzo Semple, Jr. having made his changes to Robert C. Dennis and Earl Barret's first King Tut script, next it was the turn of director Charles R. Rondeau and master ad-libber Victor Buono. How much of the story that made it to the screen was determined by them? This time, we discuss two different versions of the Curse of Tut script, and how much changed after the "final" version. Also, a Bat Research Lab on Dennis and Barret, your comments about all three versions of the scripts (and on our

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02:01:49

#163 "Phantom Pharaoh" Reveals Semplian Batman

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2021/07/08

As the early episodes of Batman were being produced, and broadcasts had not yet begun, Executive Script Consultant Lorenzo Semple, Jr., was editing scripts and trying to get across his vision for the show to the other writers. Robert C. Dennis and Earl Barret’s script for "The Phantom Pharaoh" gives us a peek at Semple’s vision for how Batman, Robin, and the other characters should be written. This time, we look at the script, the comments Semple wrote on it, and how it differs from the end product

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01:21:42

#162 Lego Batman is Every Batman

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2021/06/24

The Lego Batman Movie (2017) gives us both a unique Batman, and a Batman considered to be in the continuity of every iteration of Batman - in the comics, the ‘40s serials, the films, the animated shows, and even - or, perhaps, especially - Batman ’66. In this episode we take note of a movie about a Batman that is emphatically not the Adam West version, but nonetheless is making dozens of references to the West version. ALSO: Burt Ward talking about injuries on the set, and a jazzy version of

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01:15:08

#161 A Joker for All Seasons

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2021/06/10

A frequent assertion about Cesar Romero’s Joker is that, over the course of the Batman series, he goes from genuinely evil to just silly or bratty. Others disagree with this and maintain that he’s the same all the way through. We thought (as did some listeners on our recent survey) that this was a good focus for a Joker discussion, so we asked noted Bat-fan and cartoonist Ken Holtzhouser to join us in discussing Romero’s take on the Clown Prince of Crime. We also discuss how Romero compares to more

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01:31:27

#160 Bat-rankings

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2021/05/27

After more than six years of doing this show and reliving our childhoods, what have we decided is our favorite story of the series? Our favorite piece of bat-equipment? Our favorite villain? This time, we rank all our favorites! Plus, the “bardcore” version of the Batman theme, and your comments on episode 157!

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01:31:51

#159 The Joker Laughs on Two-Face's Behalf

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2021/05/13

For whatever reason, Batman’s producers decided that they would not do Peter Rabe’s Two-Face script (see last episode) as it was written. Instead, Lorenzo Semple Jr. adapted it into The Joker’s Last Laugh, keeping just enough of the story that Rabe got a “story” credit. This time we look at Semple’s first draft of that episode, which retains some aspects of Rabe that didn’t make it to the broadcast version, and a few other things that we kind of wish had made the final. Also, the William Cheung

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01:47:39

#158 Peter Rabe’s “Two-Face”

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2021/04/29

Two-Face never quite made it to Batman ’66 (unless you count William Shatner’s animated turn in 2017, as pictured). But two known attempts were made in the ‘60s: the Harlan Ellison treatment (which later became the comic book Batman ’66: The Lost Episode), and Peter Rabe’s full two-part script, The Two-Faced Counterfeit and The Counterfeit Counterfoiled, which was adapted by Lorenzo Semple, Jr., into a Joker story (as we’ll see next time!). In this episode, we take a look at Rabe’s script. What are

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01:34:17

#157 Adam West as Catman; False Face; and a Camp...

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2021/04/15

Part of Adam West’s renaissance as a performer, once his fans were old enough to cast him in stuff, was voicing various versions of himself in cartoons. One of these was in Nickelodeon show The Fairly OddParents, in which “TV’s Adam West” was the famous actor who had played the hero “Catman” — but thought he really was Catman! This time we take a look at Adam’s appearances on the show. Also: The 7th issue of the Batman ’66 comic book, featuring False Face! Art by past Deconstructing Comics

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01:14:01

#156 Adam and Burt "Return to the Batcave"

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2021/04/01

In 2003, CBS broadcast the special Return to the Batcave, featuring Adam West and Burt Ward walking through a search for the stolen Batmobile as they reminisced about their time making Batman. The reminiscence was hampered a bit by the show still being tied up in rights issues; only clips from Batman: The Movie were included, not from the TV series itself. This time, we delve into the good and the bat-awful of this special. Also: J-Flexx's Bat Rap, your response to our interview with Greg Patterson

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01:14:23

#155 The Entrancing Dr. Cabala

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2021/03/18

When Stanley Ralph Ross sat down to write what would be his final Batman script, which he titled Batman Meets his Match, he built it around a magical character who could turn invisible: Dr. Cabala. It was only in a later draft that, for whatever reason, he made Cabala the second banana to his alchemist wife, Dr. Cassandra. This time, we examine both versions of the script to see how much of this story was intact from the beginning and which aspects evolved later. Also, why do pseudosciences like

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01:38:25

#154 Bat-Based Cartoons: "Batfink" and Waldo Kitty's...

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2021/03/04

1966 Batmania didn’t just put a lot of Batman toys on the shelves; it inspired twists and parodies on the show itself. One of these was Hal Seeger’s Batfink, which was not exactly a parody but appropriated a fair number of elements of the show. Batfink came on the heels of Batman, but years into the ’66 show’s syndication, The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty included Catman, a hero who was clearly a takeoff from the Caped Crusader. This time, we dig into these cartoons, their shared DNA with the ’66

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01:21:49

#153 Greg Patterson tries on the Penguin's "quack"

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2021/02/18

Burgess Meredith put glee and humor into his portrayal of the Penguin. Who knew it could be just as fun to play Meredith playing the Penguin? Greg Patterson, and attorney by trade, has also acted in some one-man shows at Mount Vernon Chautauqua in Ohio, playing historical figures including Meredith. He talks to us this time about his Bat-fandom and his portrayals of Meredith and Pengy. Also: your mail about episode 150 on the "Astrologer" script, and we look (only as briefly as is warranted) at a

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01:58

Help us snag a JOHN ASTIN interview

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2021/02/09

We need help procuring an interview with John Astin - we have some questions about his "substitution" as Riddler that we'd like to ask him! But he doesn't do interviews for free, and we're not exactly a major media outlet. Listen for details and, if you've got a few bucks for the cause, donate them here by THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2021, at 7 a.m. Eastern Time.

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01:53:09

#152 Defining the Riddler w/Wally Wingert

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 ·

2021/02/04

The Riddler, a one-off villain in a Bill Finger/Dick Sprang comic book story in 1948, languished for nearly two decades until, in 1965, Gardner Fox and Sheldon Moldoff happened to bring him back… just as a certain TV producer, William Dozier, was researching the idea of making a Batman TV show. Riddler ended up in the premiere episode, played by Frank Gorshin, and Gorshin was nominated for an Emmy for the role. Thus was the Riddler cemented as one of Batman’s greatest foes. So the ’66 show is

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