[Note: I hope not to cause offense to people who like the show, any experience is a valid experience. I just sometimes fly off the handle about little things like this.]Many will be amazed that I have never watched the old Batman TV show with Adam West, but like with Star Trek, Danish TV had too good taste to show it, fortunately. If I'd seen it as a kid, I'd either have been homicidally enraged, or worse, I'd have liked it and it'd have ruined Batman for me forever.
It's impossible to figure out how Batman The Dark Knight and this TV show was inspired by the same comic. (OK, granted, the Batman comic of the sixties was very different from more recent incarnations.)
I'm watching (so far) Batman The Movie, by the same producers and actors. In the beginning Batman and Robin get an instant and automatic costume change... while sliding down a pole! Batman's hood has eyebrows drawn on in purple pencil.... Then they're in a "batcopter", and Batman tries to land on a boat... from a "batladder"! Robin flies so incompetently that Batman is lowered half into the ocean... albeit very, very slowly. And within three second a shark attaches itself to his leg! He keeps battering this shark which looks so fake it does not even look like real rubber... But in vain, so robin hands him the "shark-repellent" spray! (I guess it is only for sharks met above water.) And the shark falls down... and explodes! And that's just the first five minutes.
I'm not sure if it's supposed to be funny, but oh my gawd, it's nauseating.
Judging from Amazon reviews, everybody loves this movie/show. I don't get it. I could understand it if it was a parody and was funny, but I don't see that at all.
45 comments:
Seeing "Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt" might improve your understanding of this show:
http://alturl.com/iqv4
As you said the Batman comics of the 60s were quite different, and this show was partly a parody of them and partly of comic books in general (or at least the popular, non-fan perception of them).
If you understand the joke, the show works, although not for very long. After a while the joke wore thin and the show was cancelled.
but like with Star Trek, Danish TV had too good taste to show it, fortunately. I've never understood this unjustified superiority complex all Danes seem to have. It's bizarre. And as I said, unjustified. Totally.
Star Trek rocks, btw.
You're right about the unjustified superiority complex. Don't know where it comes from.
You've inspired me to see this! Well, at least the first bit. Sounds wonderfully campy and unintentionally funny,
It's intentionally funny, Paul. That's the whole idea.
You're right about the unjustified superiority complex. Don't know where it comes from.It's one of the mysteries of the universe I guess.
Have you ever watched the original "The Batman" series? I keep thinking of trying to find it. They ran it on BBC2 around 93 during the summer hols. I somehow missed it.
Seems there was a follow up series around '49.
No. Was that before the Adam West series?
Last time I checked 1943 was before 1966, so I guess that is a yes. It was a 13 or 15 part cinema serial.
captcha - mentions
Odd, I didn't think Robin existed in the forties.
I loved Star Trek. It was a lot about being honest, there were deep moral dilemmas... I just don't remember it as action film, but as psychological film. I'm happy I could see it from time to time for one year as a kid, around 12... I remember it as something noble.
/ I'm talking about the first set./
I never saw any Batman. Or maybe did, but forgot about it. Dunno.
I'd say I'm "in the know", Jimbo. Judging by how long the show lasted though you're right the joke wore thin pretty quick. The number of top name actors they were able to attract...who were not people on their way out, either (Cesar Romero) suggests that it was quite popular and that people back then must have understood that it was deliberately campy.
Robin was created pretty early on because readers in those days were kids. Every hero had to have a sidekick. He was definitely around by 1943.
"this shark which looks so fake it does not even look like real rubber..."
If you want 'real rubber' you have to watch old Tarzan movies for the alligator wrestling scenes.
I was a kid back then, and watched a few of these shows. It was definitely a joke, a put-on, and it did wear thin after a while. They were spoofing James Bond as well as comic book heros of the day.
It was made to be wwaaaayyy over the top. I heard an interview of Adam West a few years later and he used the line, "we put on our costumes and then put on the world."
Once in a while I do hear or read somebody who is imitating Robin's lines on the TV show. Things like, "holy hat-racks Batman, what are all these elk doing here!" The dialogue between Batman and Catwoman can be pretty funny.
I'm a Star Trek fan too. Even though it had its ridiculous side (Kirk scoring with all those alien babes), I agree with Aniko.
Im assuming its a show best watched stoned.
Im assuming its a show best watched stoned.What isn't?!
-Eric
You have to keep in context that the Adam West series was during the 60's. This was a time of mind altering drugs with a physidellic twist.
It was a show reflecting the culture of the time it was made.
Today it would not last two weeks.
Joe
Eo,
Not only is it all-out parody, it's self-parody.
Sometimes a delicate task, given that some sincere fans like you are at high risk of not "getting" it.
Sometimes, absurd humour fails to amuse. Me, I really liked the battle with the villains near the end, when every blow is accompanied by a VISUAL sound effect in a big "explosion" balloon.
I saw that film. I thought it was enjoyable silly bat-fun. ;-)
"Holy rusted metal, Batman!" - (Batman & Robin, 1997)
BATMAN : Pardon?
ROBIN : This island is fake, it's made of metal. Look, it's rusted and full of holes. Holey rusted metal.
BATMAN (with a note of relief in his voice) : Oh. Right.
Again with the self-parody. :-)
BTW, do you have any idea how hilarious the title of this post sounds IN FRENCH?
No, probably not. But merci for the laugh. :-)
MR INCREDIBLE (grim) : "Bomb Voyage. I should have known."
Now, I bet this time the FRENCH viewers didn't get that one!
Ray helpfully offered...
"If you want 'real rubber' you have to watch old Tarzan movies for the alligator wrestling scenes."
Cue big rubbery one! BYO-EE-OOOOOH-EEEE-OOOOIIIINNGGG!Aptly named Bruce McL said...
"The dialogue between Batman and Catwoman can be pretty funny."You said it, tiger! Rrrrowwrrr!
Now come over here, take my whip from me, and punish me, I've been a bad, bad criminal kitten...
Oh! Harder!
"I just sometimes fly off the handle about little things like this."Now THAT stunt I've got to see!
I never pictured you as the acrobat type, Eolake.
Or, rather, as the acro bat-type! Holy nekkid photographer, Batman!
- Don't look, Robin, you're underage and a rolemodel for american teens. [Ahem!] I'll have to handle these gorgeous hottie streakers disturbing peace all by myself.
- And without batting an eyelid, wow! Your usual brave self. [Gulp] You're going undercover?
- Sort of. More like uncovered. I'll be cleverly disguised as Butt-Man.
- Brilliant, Batman! Those nudies will never see you coming.
- Poor choice of words, Robin. Poor choice of words.
OK, so maybe I'd better explain how this title sounds in French. It sounds like stating Batman is a cross-dressing maker of ridicule. Suck ray blew!"Holy smoke! Look, Batman, the Sock Ray just...
- Don't say it, Boy Wonder. Our dynamic duo is target of enough innuendo as it is."
"BTW, do you have any idea how hilarious the title of this post sounds IN FRENCH?"
Mais naturellement. That's why I spelled it like that.
Yeah, right.
You must feel pretty stupid about not understanding it's self parody.
Well, it's pretty clear that it *has* to be (self) parody, but it just doesn't work for me.
On the other hand, I think the Naked Gun movies are brilliant, for example.
It seems unlikely you would have written that review had you got the joke.
I didn't get it when I saw it as a kid. I thought that they were trying to make a serious Batman show and it was just "Well, it was the 60s." Sort of the excuses they make for other shows like Star Trek.
Only later did I kind of clue in, and only after seeing Return to the Batcave did I really "get it." I do recommend seeing that. You might want to skip the present-day crap with Adam and Burt. The flashback parts are what are worth watching.
You might not like this Batman but the newest Batman is too far to the other extreme. When you get right down to it, what is Batman? A grown man dressing up in a costume and fighting crime. That's why it's a joke no matter how much violence you put in.
Well, it's hard to argue with that. Which is surely why superheroes do not work for so many people who are well grounded in reality.
But still, somehow they, including Batman, still works for me when done well, take Dark Knight for instance, both the recent movie and the 1986 comic book.
Frank Miller said something similar in an interview, no I think about it. He said he didn't like the TV show, to him Batman was never funny, he was a good scary character.
to him Batman was never funny, he was a good scary character.Based on that, it's strange that Robin made an appearance in Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.
Which is surely why superheroes do not work for so many people who are well grounded in reality. I was always a Spider-Man fan as a kid. I liked him because the whole thing wasn't taken so damn seriously, which is what you find in comics today. That's the influence of The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen. I loved both of those, but the unfortunate upshot was that you had a lot of lesser talents who didn't really get what Miller and Moore were doing trying to emulate them.
P.S. I never found Batman scary.
Yes, you said it well. Both Dark Knight and Watchmen had humor too, and where written by large talents at their peak. When lesser talents try to do "dark and gritty", it's not dang interesting.
... For example John Byrne had a story which indicated that Supes and Bats can't be friends, clearly inspired by Dark Knight. Whereas if you read Dark Knight right, it's clear that they *are* friends, but are torn apart by differences of philosophy. (Batman is an anarchist, Superman supports the government.)
You don't get it. Batman is one of those things which you don't criticize. Especially the original 1960s TV series.
It's like the Rolling Stones. You don't analyze whether they are a good band or not. They are the Rolling Stones! Same for Elvis. And Batman.
However, the "Batman is an anarchist, Superman supports the government" characterization above is interesting.
(I never really got why the Stones are so big. I know dozens of Beatles songs, but I'm hard pressed to mention three of Stones.)
The Dark Knight Returns had a lot of interesting philosophical questions, which along with the ground-breaking art (at least four totally different art styles in it, and yet they worked together) made it so outstanding.
His later work is so simplistic by comparison, I'm not sure what happened.
but like with Star Trek, Danish TV had too good taste to show it, fortunately.
I'm nt sure what to make of that. Star Trek had storiest by Harlan Ellison and Frederic Brown,along with inspired stories from producer Gene Coon, John D.F. Black, and Jerome Bixby.
I'd like to know what shows would have met the high standards of Danish TV.
I can't over that...good taste...hahahhahahaha
Ah, Rock/Anon/Josie, so you do have some knowledge, not just venom. Do you have a blog? I'll visit, and I won't snipe at you like you snipe at me.
I'll admit I've only seen very few Star Trek episodes, it's quite possible that there are many good ones I haven't seen.
"I think the Naked Gun movies are brilliant"
Sure are.
Anything with the word "naked" in the title is bound to be at least a bit interesting, anyway. ;-)
"When you get right down to it, what is Batman? A grown man dressing up in a costume and fighting crime."
I don't know... I found Batman Begins very solid. The whole "super-ninja method" and all.
Surprisingly well rendered in the videogame, too. You go gung-ho, you get creamed. Gotta work on their nerves, stealthy approach, and eliminate their weapons first. Immersively Batman-ish, you have to think like he thinks. And use the surroundings to your advantage.
Just watched Iron Man last night. Liked it very much, except for one little thing: the last seconds. I mean, Tony Stark going public with his secret identity?
A surprise ending, no doubt. But a bit too much.
Also, if you've bothered to watch until the end of the credits, there's this little scene where he ecounters Nick Fury. (Yet another retconned black character, like Alicia in Fantastic Four or the Kingpin, actually this modern ethnic balancing works well.) But I'm unsure about the foreshadowing of the Avengers there. Unless in the sequel they join Iron Man with Captain America, and the Hulk, and Thor...
They might just pull it off and make a worthy sequel. But it's going to be a challenge.
The day before that, I saw Dragonball - Evolution. Nicely done, but a bit anti-climactic. The comic and anime were just too rich, by pruning it out they were BOUND to disappoint the fans. Okay, they fixed the originally repulsive Goku-Gorilla face design, but... Piccolo without the antennas? It's just not Piccolo any more!
I'm real surprised. Akira Toriyama himself took part in making the movie, but somehow accepted to have the MANY supporting characters be deleted? At the very least, they should've kept Krilin! :-( And Muten Roshi's most outlandish training methods, these got much too summarised.
Wasn't a ridiculeuse movie by far. But I had such high expectations...
Just for info, I've decided to buy The Killing Joke next time I'm in a book shop. You've talked me into it.
Much less convinced about "Whatever happened to the Dark Knight?". It seems it's all just a surrealistic arc ending with little Bruce Wayne being born. Whether it's a hint at predestination, or a "Reset Button", or a reincarnation, I don't know and I don't really care. I just hate pointless endings.
Don't get me wrong, I *love* the whole "this is not the end, this is the beginning" idea, but only if there's a solid point. Superhero comics characters who die only to be alive soon afterwards? Bo-ring! Cheap tricks when the sales drop. Boo!
What's the point in Superman's sacrifice if he resurrects a few months later? ):-P
When true heroes give their life, they know there's no cheating. I find fake sacrifices insulting, and emotionally manipulative. I feel disrespected.
Jimbo bravely confessed...
"I never found Batman scary."
Me neither. :-)
Always knew he was only supposed to scare the BAD GUYS! Well, d'uh!
"When lesser talents try to do "dark and gritty", it's not dang interesting."
It's got to be well done. Or else...
There are, I have found, three types of horror movies, and not one more. (Horror, "dark and gritty", same difference.)
1-Those who take it humorously. Can be awesome when well done, like Army of Darkness.
2-Those who fail at being horrific. Make me laugh at how unwillingly ridiculous they are, or just bore and/or annoy me. Example: Friday the XIIIth, part 7. Jason, dead and half eaten by the maggots, is resurrected when a pair of teenage vampire/zombie killer wannabes dig up his grave "to make sure he's really really dead THIS time", impale him with a steel rod, and just at that second lightning strikes it à la Frankenstein. So preposterous, I didn't even think of raising an incredulous eyebrow. For the whole rest of the movie, you have scene after scene of: random unwary people seen, Jason comes, Jason kills, next scene. Don't ask me how it ends, I soon gave up. Snore!
3-And then, you have some films that DO manage to really scare you, to touch that core of primal fears. Provided they don't insult you with grotesque latex+ketchup effects, or -again- pointless killing like the so-called "classic" Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I mean, sure, if you get past the absurdity of random psycho killers suddenly after you, then maybe... but I never manage to get past the absurdity. There's got to be a point, a minimum of logic. At the very least, you've got to have stepped on the toe of an old gipsy woman with an ingrown nail and forgotten to apologize, or tripped on a sacred grumpy indian turtle, so she/it curses your road trip into traveling Interstate Zero.
Van Helsing, for one, suceeded in immersing me in its suspense (if not in scaring me much, more like "ooh, action!"). I hope there's a sequel, to know who is Gabriel and whether he IS an immortal, alive since the siege of Massada.
If they don't make a sequel, *I* will write it! I've already got the scenario, picture this: Van Helsing is sent into the Caucasus, where some teenager in Hicksville has been bitten by a Millenial Vampire, and may or may not have managed to cure himself with the help of the Matriarch of the Hot Naiads. After glimpsing C'thulhu in Limbo. For good measure, I think I'll add a few sex-obsessed satyrs, a cranky Hungarian Horntail, Peter Pan, some body-swapping magic, and a cameo from Domai's Tatya (the 2005 redhead, not the recent new Tatya, I like her less).
The movie should be good, no?
"it's clear that [Supes and Bats] *are* friends, but are torn apart by differences of philosophy.
Ah. I've read that one. Or one just like it.
Very realistic, very plausible and believable. Such good stories are too rare.
"Batman is one of those things which you don't criticize."
Right. Just last week, I was telling my Dad, "you mocked Grendizer's horns when I was a kid, and that I can never forgive you. Nobody disrespects Grendizer!"Not that I'm in much conflict with Daddy, but there have got to be limits set, right?
Muhammad with a bomb turban, tolerable. Suggesting Dubya isn't a political genius, that's trying your luck. Calling Grendizer "a silly horn-head", blasphemy. Cheering "you go, Batman, what a man!" with a slight hint of irony in the tone? Immediate decapitation!!!
Rock Strongo questioned...
"I'd like to know what shows would have met the high standards of Danish TV.
Oh, a lot of great arabic series would no doubt qualify. All those which I didn't follow as a kid: "Fares", "Abou Melhem", "That's how the world is", "My Aunt's House", and let's not forget "Hammam God Bath" and "Hotel Sleep Tight".
Actually, these last two WERE good. Thanks to a talented writer-and-lead-actor, making up for the over-the-top typical arabian acting of several others.
Eolake offered...
"Do you have a blog? I'll visit, and I won't snipe at you like you snipe at me."
Dude, what's the point of visiting if you don't snipe? ;-)
Come on, dare be hard, bring it on! Or, as they say in latin, "accio, Severus, snipe!"
I mean, Tony Stark going public with his secret identity?
A surprise ending, no doubt. But a bit too much.
They probably did it because of The Ultimates where his identity is known from Day One. The Ultimates is also the origin of the Black Nick Fury who was drawn from the beginning to look like Samuel L. Jackson. Everything's merchandising and shit, so they were thinking ahead to the movie and all the merchandising possibilities including the most obvious - action figures.
I think it works better. The idea that Iron Man was Tony's bodyguard was a bit much, as was the case in the comic. Too much of a connection, people would not have been fooled. Usually a secret identity is helped to stay secret by there being no obvious connection between the two. Puny Peter Parker could never be Spider-Man, meek, mild-manner Clark Kent could never be Superman.
(Yet another retconned black character, like Alicia in Fantastic Four or the Kingpin, actually this modern ethnic balancing works well.)
He's the only one that works. The Kingpin is supposed to be a white dude. I don't really care about Alicia.
Or, as they say in latin, "accio, Severus, snipe!"
D'oh!
Action figures? Please, don't remind me!!!
They're direly under-represented in backwards hicksville Lebanon. SO frustrating.
Also, since Marvel dumped Toy Biz to sign with Hasbro, a whole era of reasonably-priced high quality has ended. :-(
I used to collect all those I vaguely fancied, every time a movie came out. Some Hulks from the first film are absolutely incredible! (pun intended)
Samuel L. Jackson, I tend to slightly worship. Morgan Freeman, too.
Oh, and Sidney Poitier, the pioneer. Respect to da man.
But "the Kingpin is supposed to be a white dude"? Come-on, man! I'm still stunned that no seething groups has rioted over the "racial stereotype" of a Black mob boss!
Me, my only peeve about the movie's Kingpin, is that by making him slim, "human-sized", they completely betrayed the spirit of the character. I mean, the friggin' KINGPIN?!? Before I got fluent at English, I thought the name meant some sort of giant pastry. Really. Mister Big Cake the big cheese of crime. Some Gingerbread Man on steroids or something. The Emperor of Dough.
And you know what fate awaits all those who betray the Kingpin. They get... pinned. Nuff said, yo.
It's not as if the United States are short on massively overweight Afro-Americans to pick from, either. Or massively overweight Anythings, for that matter! Helloooo? Whatever happened to Fat Albert? Big Mama's House, anyone? Professor Sherman Klump?
I pity da fools.
Correcting the gross under-representation of "ethnic" characters in maistream comics is, I believe, worthy enough to even excuse changing such classic images as the familiar ugly mug of Nick Badass Fury.
Also, I've seen many hints in the comics that the (caucasian) Kingpin is gay. Or was. No, wait, he's resurrected. (yawn)
Only Lance Whatshisname, Black Canary's hubbie, ever STAYED dead. When are Elongated Man's wife and Robin#III's dad returning? And Bats himself?
And you "don't care" about a few more Bruthas? Dude, check yo' priorities, word!
Used to be, at the very least we were all equal before Death.
C'est ridiculeuse.
Which movie has the Kingpin?
I agree, he's supposed to be huge.
Frank Miller's Kingpin, in his various DD series, was great.
Correcting the gross under-representation of "ethnic" characters in maistream comics is, I believe, worthy enough to even excuse changing such classic images as the familiar ugly mug of Nick Badass Fury.
I'm all for creating new characters that will correct that under-representation, but don't change the already existing ones. You notice they only do that with pretty minor characters anyway. Sure, Nick Fury and His Howling Commandos had their own mag but he's not exactly The Amazing Spider-Man. And the Kingpin was a supporting character from Daredevil.
Eolake: Which movie has the Kingpin?
He was in Daredevil.
Is Felix Lighter (Leiter, whatever) a minor character in the Bond films?
How about Mos Def as the third actor to play Ford Prefect.
Still I think changing a character like that is better than having an American play Bond in his screen debut.
The ultimate change was the God like appearance of Snow, or was it Sartorius in the remake of Solaris.
Is Felix Lighter (Leiter, whatever) a minor character in the Bond films?
Is he a comic book character?
How about Mos Def as the third actor to play Ford Prefect.
Is he a comic book character?
Anyway, neither is the star. They did not make Arthur Dent or James Bond black. That was kind of the point.
But it was worse than making Bond black, they made him American. I believe James Bond was serialized in comic form in the newspapers.
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