Three's Company isn't the only old rerun I've been reevaluating lately. For the past couple of months, I've been watching Batman on Saturday mornings on a local rerun channel.
I'm talking about this guy, of course.
1966 Adam West model.
Is Batman still a love-it-or-hate-it show? It seems to come and go in cycles. I used to love it as a child; right up until the Tim Burton movie came out in 1989, actually. The great thing about Batman is that he's been interpreted so many ways that you don't have to feel compelled to love everything. You can love whatever most fits your personal interpretation of the character. But, of course, as a surly teenager, I loved the dark Batman, and the excellent Batman: The Animated Series which followed soon after. I had little patience for what seemed like a parody version of Batman, and so Adam West's delivery and the silly, labeled gadgets became objects of derision and scorn for me. Camp? Not for me!
Now, decades later, I've suddenly found myself liking the show again. Not just liking it, but loving it. I mean, yes, let's just get this out of the way now: it's a really stupid show. I mean, there's camp, and then there's dumb. And some of this show is just amazingly dumb. Seriously, I saw an episode where the Penguin got a film permit from Gotham City and then set up a fake bank robbery just to antagonize Batman. Seriously, anyone can do anything in Gotham City, it seems; convicted felons can get whatever they want just by asking for it. Even, apparently, if they have an alias.
(Incidentally, I also think it's pretty funny that Batman and Robin mentioned on the first episode that they were deputized by the Gotham Police Department, which means that the city is liable for anything they do and anyone they may rough up in the course of their crimefighting. That makes me laugh, but it also kind of delights me. The naivete is charming.)
But I get the show now. It's the style. Adam West's delivery is a stylistic choice; Batman is a boy scout. Things are labeled "Bat Computer" or "Entrance to Hidden Lair" for the benefit of the audience (and as a nod to editorial labels in comics). I get the way the humor is pitched. And boy, do I love the villains. Cesar Romero, Frank Gorshin, Julie Newmar, Vincent Price, Burgess Meredith, George Sanders, Milton Berle, Cliff Robertson, Victor Buono--oh, gods, do I love Victor Buono as King Tut! He's doing Shakespeare to the rafters! Cesar Romero is chewing the scenery down to the bolts! It's frigging wonderful! The villains are just a delight nine and a half times out of ten.
Honestly, the tone of the show almost makes it criticism-proof. It's aimed at kids, and a certain type of adult appreciates the humor and the audacious silliness of it all. Half of the fun comes from how unbelievably stupid and stupidly unbelievable it is. And I don't mean that in a condescending way at all; it's delightful. I love watching Batman.
(And yes, some of this has to do with my adverse reaction to The Dark Knight, which I think carried the symbolism, the psychology, and the psychotic violence so far over the top that it became over-serious and dull. Having a Batman I can enjoy on a light level is a dream after that. But trust me, this is a good show precisely because it doesn't take anything seriously and is so imperfect.)
I've also been watching Batman: The Brave and the Bold on Cartoon Network. I wasn't planning on watching this show, actually, but I just flipped onto it one night and fell in love. The second I saw Batman in his blue and grey costume, climbing up the sides of buildings and flying into outer space, I knew this was the Batman cartoon for me. It's very much in the vein of the Adam West series and the campier comics of the 1960s. But, at the same time, it takes the character seriously.
It's also a fanboy dream, by the way. Half of the fun for me is seeing which version of which character they're going to use; for instance, they use the new Blue Beetle but they also use the Golden and Silver Age version of Green Arrow. There's an episode with Aquaman that offers a characterization I've never seen before: he's pompous, in love with himself, and constantly repeats his exploits to show how adventurous he is. It's hilarious.
Let's just describe the show this way: on the second episode, which is wonderfully titled "Terror on Dinosaur Island," Batman and Plastic Man face Gorilla Grodd and an army of gorillas on a jungle island full of dinosaurs. They ride the dinosaurs. And they want to turn the human race into a race of intelligent gorillas. If the sight of Batman and Plastic Man fighting superintelligent gorillas holding laser rifles on flying pterosaurs doesn't instantly warm your heart... well, I don't know what to tell you except that I'm sorry about your capacity for joy, robot.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
TV Report: Batman and Batman
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9 comments:
Thank you for posting that picture. Man, I love that scene from (the real) Batman movie.
Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb!
Great post! I've gone through the same evolution as I've aged, now I love West for the camp.
Now hand me the Oceanic Repellent Spray!
-MJ
I was in third grade. My little playground boyfriend and I couldn't wait to run outside at recess every day and enact the drama from the previous ending. I, of course, was Catwoman.
I think his name was Danny.
I stand by the old Batman show as the best one. Surrealist, absurdist comedy with some great performances - Frank Gorshin alone is worth watching the show for. It's funny as hell, the camera work rocks, the set design is totally crazy inventive - I've never been able to settle into the darker more brooding nonsense because I've always thought this show was pure genius and haven't wavered from that.
The new show sounds cool though!
While I find the show on the whole witless and tiresome, the guest villains force me to come back: Cesar Romero refusing to shave his mustache, and pretending we won't notice it under the clown white, Ethel Merman's shrillness, Vincent Price being too good for the show as he finds ways to stick "Egg" into as many words as possible.
And best of all, Tallulah Bankhead as The Black Widow, calling Batman "Bat Doll" and impersonating Robin, which consisted of Tallulah dubbing Burt Ward's dialogue. It's the only episode I've taped and hung onto.
The best moment is Tallulah taking a sip of milk, shuddering, and then croaking out, "So THAT'S milk!"
Speaking of croaking: it was Tallulah's last-ever acting performance. By the time it aired, she had died.
The old lady robot on the porch which Black Widow used to vet visitors was the actress who played the lead male alien in Star Trek's infamous pilot episode. "The Cage".
The real problem with the TV BATMAN was that it was a limited joke that went on too long. By the end of the first season, we had gotten ALL the jokes that were there to get. All they could do was repeat themselves, so it became very boring very quickly, though not as quickly as the two Joel Schumacker movies. Man, did those suck!
@phil I think my favorite part of that scene was where he had to ditch the bomb elsewhere because he couldn't throw it at some (obviously plastic) ducks.
That and the Salvation Army band that seemed to be following him around.
I am a particularly big fan of the opening credits for Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Because it conjures up everything I love about the show.
I think they have captured the look and feel perfectly and it's nice to be able to enjoy Batman without all the soul searching etc.
The upcoming medieval one looks like a bit of fun!
Screw the fanboys, this show was great. Adam West created a character out of nothing, and OWNED the role. There are so many that can pass as "serious" Bruce Wayne, while only ONLY this guy can do what he did. Bottom line is, he kicked ass
That show trumped all other pop products in a year (1966) that can only be described as a pop culture supernova. Adam West, comic genius.
And I'll have some fresh squeezed orange juice with that.
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