Batman - General Discussion

[Twilight Man]

Fox News interviews Julie Newmar.

[Twilight Man]

Sad news, old chums.

 

We still have Return of The Caped Crusaders 2 to look forward to.

The "Shat" will hit the fan as Adam West and William Shatner engage in "ham to ham" combat.

They will probably have a dedication to the greatest Batman of them all.

Edited June 10, 2017 by Twilight Man

[Ed McCauley]

RIP, Adam West. Thank you for so many memories. Although I enjoy the more "modern" takes on Batman that came from "better" actors like Michael Keaton and Christian Bale (sorry, George Clooney!), Adam West is MY Batman, a generational thing which is why Roger Moore is Bond and Tom Baker is The Doctor for so many of us. I had hoped Adam could be the male Betty White and just keep going and going towards 100, so that's why I find this news especially sad. Thanks again.

[GHScorpiosRule]

4 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Same.

He will forever hold a special place in my heart because he was the first real life Batman for me. RIP, Adam West.???

I loved when he was asked and he provided his voice for Simon Trent/The Gray Ghost in Batman: The animated series' "Gray Ghost."

FUCK CANCER!!!?

I remember seeing him twice on another favorite show of mine-Perry Mason in recent years. I think both were before he was cast as Batman. And he played two different characters.

I posted this in the Celebrity Memoriam thread, but also putting it here:

Edited June 10, 2017 by GHScorpiosRule

[VCRTracking]

A great writeup from the Vulture:

Great Actor, Batman: Adam West’s Influence Continues to Shape Hollywood

Excerpt:
 

Quote

 

West’s Batman/Bruce Wayne is, and will always remain, the single most important screen incarnation of the character, for better or worse: For better because it was the most surprising, at times confounding, interpretation of the Caped Crusader, feather-light and hilarious precisely because of the character’s seeming lack of self-awareness; for worse, in the eyes of some fans, because it encouraged millions of people who had never picked up a Batman comic, or any comic, to be amused by the sight of adults dressing up in wild outfits and pretending to punch each other in the face. Every subsequent, high-profile reinvention of Batman, whether in Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s The Killing Joke, Tim Burton’s alternately perverse and sincere Batman and Batman Returns, Christopher Nolan’s operatic trilogy, and Zack Snyder’s funereal Batman vs. Superman, is, first and foremost, a reaction against the Adam West–driven Batman series.

That’s how important the show was: It was cancelled 50 years ago and hasn’t been a force in syndication since the ’80s, yet the whole superhero-industrial complex is still defining itself in opposition to it, subconsciously or with intent. The two 1990s Joel Schumacher Batmans, Batman Returns and Batman and Robin, made many Bat-fans furious precisely because they embraced the ’60s TV aesthetic that post–Frank Miller Batman comics did their best to expunge; they were seen as a step backward because they weren’t dour. Whenever a “thinkpiece” about comics appears in a mainstream publication declaring they’re not for kids anymore and have moved beyond “Zap!” and “Pow!” — I wrote a few myself, 20-plus years ago, and they’re still being written, amazingly — it’s the 1960s Batman series they’re addressing. As comic-book expert Glen Weldon put it in a 2014 NPR interview, “Without Adam West making Batman into a fad, and without [comic-book writer and editor] Denny O’Neil saying, ‘OK, let’s take him back to basics,’ you don’t get anything that comes after that. You don’t have the Frank Miller Dark Knight, you don’t get the Bruce Timm animated series Batman, you don’t get Tim Burton, you don’t get Joel Schumacher, and you don’t get Christopher Nolan.”

The face of that series was Adam West. The chin, really.

 

[Twilight Man]

And now, the trailer for Adam West's swan song.

[Twilight Man]

Greetings, old chums.

It appears as though IFC is now going to be broadcasting a block of episodes every Saturday.

The episodes seem to running slightly longer than 30 minutes, so IFC may be the first network in several decades

to show the actual "uncut" episodes in their entirety.

For those of you who still have not purchased the DVD sets, this is most exciting news indeed.

(Although I still wonder why you have not purchased the DVD sets.)

[starri]

Since Fox holds the rights to the series, Batman will in some small way belong to Disney once the merger goes through at the end of January.

Corporate politics make strange bedfellows.

[MarkHB]

On 4/13/2017 at 7:07 PM, Twilight Man said:

millennium said:

Ah yes, "Legends of The Superheroes".

I briefly mentioned this in the Batman thread a long time ago on the former forum that many of us used to frequent (Hello TWOP lurkers!).

A two episode fever dream is correct. Many people still disagree; was it merely two TV specials or a cancelled TV series.

Regardless; Adam West and Burt Ward return headlining a B-list Justice League.

They take on a Legion of Doom where several comedians portray the villains, so naturally, one of the specials (episodes??) was a

rip-off of the Celebrity Roasts that Dean Martin and friends used to have.

The jokes completely fall flat, despite the actual funny comedians that they managed to get like:

Jeff Altman (a funny comedian who tried desperately to get that turkey called "Pink Lady and Jeff" to fly),

Charlie Callas (who quite often appeared on said aforementioned roasts),

Howard Morris (Ernest T Bass from Mayberry),

and Ruth Buzzi (who also appeared on the roasts still doing her dowdy spinster routine).

A couple of years back, they actually put this trainwreck out on DVD.

Words really fail me.

Incidentally, both "Legends of the Superheroes" specials are available on DC Universe, so if you grow tired of all the ultra-violence in Titans, they can make for a nice change of pace.

Also (I think this was also mentioned in Movies), the Adam West memorial at the very end of Batman vs Two-Face is an almost guaranteed tear-generator.

[starri]

3 hours ago, MarkHB said:

Also (I think this was also mentioned in Movies), the Adam West memorial at the very end of Batman vs Two-Face is an almost guaranteed tear-generator.

The one they put in the actual comics got to me.

[BetterButter]

[VCRTracking]

An essay on why BATMAN: THE MOVIE is great.

 

[Twilight Man]

Jean Hale Coleman has passed away at the age of 82.

 

In addition to this,  she appeared in "In Like Flint",

and she made small appearances in several TV series from the 60s and 70s, including

Bonanza, My Favorite Martian, Hogan's Heroes, and McHale's Navy.

There are no small roles, only small actors.