To The Batpoles! Batman 1966 – Details, episodes & analysis

Famously, Burt Ward has said that, in the episode BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME, he was placed above a pit of tigers, with meat hanging above him that encouraged the tigers to jump. Meanwhile, in THE OFFICIAL BATMAN BATBOOK, Joel Eisner says there were no live tigers, just a clip from an old movie. Who's right? The answer may surprise you! Scott Sebring has shared his interesting research on this topic with us, and we share it in this episode - available only on Patreon!

The first episode of our book-writing-hiatus Patreon podcast is now live! We discuss memos among the Greenway and Fox teams about Adam West's chronic lateness on the set, and answer the question: How is Bill Clinton separated by three degrees from Batman '66?? Support us for two dollars a month and get BAT BITS every two weeks!

When Batman hit in early 1966, it set a trend of superheroes in pop culture that many rushed to emulate. By the time many of these bat-mimics were ready for public consumption, the trend was on its way out. One such wave-rider was Captain Nice, created by Buck Henry, and repeating some gags from Henry’s hit Get Smart. While Captain Nice brought some really funny moments, it failed to catch on with audiences. Was this simply because the bat-bubble had burst? Or was it that Henry wasn’t the right person to grab the lightning in a bottle that Lorenzo Semple, Jr., had captured? We look at the strengths and weaknesses of the show, the possible reasons for its failure, and whether Captain Nice was meant to be a bat-clone, or a conventional sitcom starring a superhero.

Plus, the Solid Ghost Band theme version, MTV looks at a party commemorating 20 years since the last Batman primetime episode, and ChrisBCritter explains how Dr. Somnambula’s stethescope worked!

Watch Captain Nice on Archive.org

Batman Reunion Party, 1988

Sold Ghost Band theme version

Tim and Paul explain why the next episode will be delayed a bit.

Also, how you can put yourself in a drawing to win a Batman meets Godzilla T-shirt!

This time, a double-header!

First, we finish what we started by discussing Legends of the Superheroes: The Roast. Was it a great achievement by West and Ward? (Um…) Was Frank Gorshin probably better off for having skipped it? Was the inclusion of Ghetto Man racist? Is it really a roast at all? Is it, you know, funny at any point? We discuss all these questions, the big and small names that appeared in the credits, and more.

Then, we talk to Eric Elliott, who's in charge of a project to turn a 1960s treatment for an unrealized Batman Meets Godzilla movie into an online comic!

Plus Toma Lazarov's dubstep version of the Batman theme, and your response to our discussion of Minerva, Mayhem, and Millionaires!

Mark Evanier on how Legends came to be

Jim Beard writes on Tor.com about Legends and the origin of that awful cowl

Marc Nobleman begins his search for Legends cast members in 2011

Nobleman finds Barbara Joyce (Huntress) - but too late

Nobleman finds - and talks to - Howard Murphy (Green Lantern)

(Thanks to JB Anderton for the Noblemania links - misattributed on the show! Sorry about that...)

Minerva "episode episode" discussion on the '66 message board

Hanna-Barbera's Alice in Wonderland or What's a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This? on Daily Motion

Here's the cover of that Rexall Alice comic book we owned way back when

Mark Evanier on Howard Morris (Dr. Sivana) and why he quit working for Hanna-Barbera in the '60s

In January 1979, Adam West, Burt Ward, and Frank Gorshin reprised their '66 roles in two specials that barely registered in the Nielsen ratings. The first was "Legends of the Superheroes: The Challenge," in which Batman, Robin, and other DC Comics heroes went up against a group of villains (including the Riddler) who, for no clear reason, were plotting to destroy the world. Adam looked sub-par in his "gila cowl," and all three struggled with a script that only the laugh track found funny. In this episode, we take one for the team to explore this highly unmemorable program.

Also, we go all the way to Mars for some "deja vu," listen to Greg De Luca's guitar tutorial of Hefti's Batman theme, and read your response to our "Penguinalysis" episode!

MeTV on "Legends"

LEGENDS site on archive.org

Batmobilehistory.com

Rare Sketches and Paintings for the Batman '66 Opening Credits

We've finished season three (and the series), so it's time to examine the final year of Batman. It's not a task we relish; so much of season three is a disappointment, from the writing to the production values, the head-scratching cliffhanger-free episode tag scenes to the phoned-in acting. And then there's the introduction of Batgirl. While Yvonne Craig was always a delight, the execution of introducing Barbara Gordon/Batgirl into a show that had just been cut back to once a week, and sometimes one-part stories, left a lot to be desired. Where did the show go wrong in its approach to Batgirl, and how could she have been better utilized?

Also, we listen to the Scaffold's "Goodbat Nightman" (NOTE: some may find this video rather controversial), say "Holy Deja Vu!" while watching Get Smart, and dig into your mail about our Dr. Cassandra episode!

Did Sonny and Cher almost appear on Batman?

"The Dress" in Catwoman's Dressed to Kill

And so we arrive at the last episode of Batman. Of course, the show didn't get a spectacular sendoff; they didn't even give us any of the major villains. Instead, Zsa Zsa Gabor, who had twice almost appeared on the show, finally gets her turn, as (relatively?) evil spa owner Minerva. ("How could she be evil? She's so beautiful!") What's perhaps more notable is the amount of self-parody in the episode, including appearances by executive producer William Dozier and producer Howie Horwitz! Join us as we wrap up the TV series - but not the podcast series!

Also, Richard Bakalyan inspires "deja vu", the Bat Research Lab uncovers when Batman was merely one of the world's greatest detectives, and we read your mail about the parade of bat-parodies!

Zsa Zsa Gabor's 1966 letter to Dozier

Sounds Incorporated's Batman theme

The 1974 "Equal Pay" PSA

How might a longtime Batman comics reader in 1966 have reacted to Burgess Meredith's portrayal of the Penguin? That's the question our friend Kyle hit on a few months ago, and in this episode he joins us to read pre-'66 Batman comics to compare how similar Meredith's Penguin was to the character in stories by Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Sheldon Moldoff, France Herron, and the like. How similar are the two versions, and where are they different?

Plus, your mail about our discussion of The Joker's Flying Saucer!

Four and Twenty Penguins: from Batman 43 (1947) and Batman 155 (1963)

A Comic History of the Penguin on theneitherworld.com

The Penguin on ComicVine

Burgess Meredith's single: The Capture and The Escape

Batman by Garotos Podres

The Joker I've Thrilled Many a Woman T-shirt on 80stees.com

Discussion of BATPOLES episode 121 "Send Off the Clown" on 66batman.com

Batman for U.S. Savings Bonds

As Batman neared the end of its run, the budget situation got worse (occasioning the need for an invisible fight), and the writers threw caution to the wind: witness at least half a dozen double entendres in "The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra" — this at a time when most viewers who were old enough to get these naughty jokes had already bailed. In this episode, we examine this, this final episode written by Stanley Ralph Ross.

PLUS: Lily Munster has a deja vu episode, John Burgess sends us his own take on Hefti's Batman theme, and we read your mail about our discussion of the Dynamic Duo on The Adventures of Superman radio show!

The 1966 LP More Official Adventures of Batman and Robin, on Discogs.com

"When Batman Became a Coward" from that same 1966 LP

Ronald Liss bio on superman.fandom.com

Down These Mean Streets discusses "The Case of the Drowning Seal"

John Burgess plays a Batman Theme-like tune in one of his guitar rebuild videos

The other appearances of The Purple Top

Leslie Perkins, as Octavia, is the first to wear it, in The Minstrel's Shakedown/Barbecued Batman?

Then Phyllis Douglas, as Josie, takes her turn in The Joker's Last Laugh/The Joker's Epitaph.