Holy Anniversary Batman!

The Author.

It wasn't my plan to write a blog tonight, but on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the first episode of the Batman television series first airing, I knew I couldn't let such a momentous pop culture event happen without commenting on it. In this blog posting, I'd like to take a few moments to talk about the history of the series and why it's important.

Call it campy. Call it cheesey. Don't call it an invalid portrayal of Batman. For all the younger generations raised on a dark and gritty Dark Knight, this wasn't always the way it was. While darker in the early days and more a swashbuckler in the 40's, by the 1950's Batman and Robin had devolved into a series of garish battles with aliens and monsters. Gone were the days of villains like Penguin and Catwoman. Sales plummeted and DC Comics contemplated cancelling the series for good.

Talking Joker with Cesar Romero's voice. NECA Robin. Mattel Cowl. Figures Toy Company Boxing Riddler, Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne.

By 1965 DC decided to reinvent the character, by bringing back the old classic foes, and jettisoning so many of the characters and concepts that had arguably taken the character away from his roots. Still, it was hardly a dark comic. Batman was still pals with Superman, a member of the Justice League and brightly colored. Keeping that in mind, the series that debuted in January of 1966 was not only a good representation of the comics, but in some instances darker than the comics.

Getting that out of the way, anyone who watches the series and doesn't understand that you're supposed to laugh with it isn't paying attention. One of the brilliant parts of the series was the way it was written for two audiences. The kids ate up the derring-do and villainy. The adults enjoyed the in-jokes and clever satire.

NECA's Quarter Scale Dynamic Duo.

The star of the series, Adam West, was a working actor but not famous by any means, and Robin, Burt Ward, was a total unknown. While the heroes may not have been household names, the villains sure were. Right out of the gate, well known comedian Frank Gorshin, famous for impressions, set the tone for the series as the Riddler. The pilot episode sets all the familiar elements into place. A crime and the reveal of the villain behind it. The police knowing they're outmatched. The police calling Batman for help. Batman and Robin on the case. The end of the half hour episode concludes with a cliffhanger ending. In a true first for television, the very next night, the conclusion aired. This was how the series aired for the first two of the three seasons. In the third season it aired once a week and the stories for the most part were either single part episodes or two part episodes airing over a two week period.

Batman became a massive overnight hit with viewers. Quickly "Batmania" swept the nation. Merchandise flooded stores and everyone in Hollywood wanted to appear on the series as a villain. When that wasn't feasible, cameos were cleverly placed in other areas. The most popular were the "window" cameos. Batman and Robin would be climbing up a wall with their Bat-Ropes, and some celebrity would open a window and have a brief discussion with them.

More from Figures Toy Company and Funko Pop's.

Famous car customizer George Barris designed the Batmobile off an unused concept car body, and that car is still one of if not the most famous Batmobile ever created. I wrote a previous blog post just celebrating that car. Feel free to check it out.

The first season actually adapted several comic book stories, and villains like The Penguin, The Joker, Mr. Freeze, Catwoman, False Face and the Mad Hatter made appearances. Several villains were created just for the series in this first season, most famously Victor Buono as King Tut. Tut was really Professor William Omaha McElroy, a quiet professor of Egyptology from Yale who when struck on the head developed a second personality, that of the reincarnation of the famous boy king, Tut. Gotham City of course was the reincarnation of ancient Thebes. Tut of course believed it was his destiny to rule.

Figures Toy Company's King Tut

While only making one appearance in the series, Roddy McDowall starred as The Bookworm, a brilliant mind but also a frustrated and failed novelist. It's one of the very best episodes of the series and it's truly a shame that the Bookworm never made another appearance.

Figures Toy Company's Bookworm

Other episodes that really stand out in the first season are the Jokers debut in "The Joker Is Wild", The Mad Hatter's debut in "The Thirteen Hat", the first and only False-Face story, "True Or False-Face", and the last Riddler episode of the season, "Death In Slow Motion".

After the season ended production began on a feature length film. Batman: The Movie premiered that summer, this time with an increased budget, the Bat Boat, Bat Cycle and Bat Copter were shown, and The Penguin, Riddler, Joker and Catwoman all teamed up to form United Underworld.

The second season premiered in the fall. Right out of the gate the season began with one of the weakest episodes of the series. With twice as many episodes ordered, the quality began to dip. All the popular villains returned including King Tut. Several new villains appeared. Most were forgettable with two exceptions. Vincent Price made his first appearance as Egghead, the world smartest crook and Cliff Robertson as a mean and not too bright cowboy villain named Shame.

Figures Toy Company's Shame and Mad Hatter

Second season highlights include the first three part episode teaming the Joker and Penguin together, Egghead and Shame's debuts, Walter Slezak's appearance as The Clock King in an episode written by Batman co-creator Bill Finger, Eli Wallach's appearance as Mr. Freeze and Batman and Robin teaming up with The Green Hornet and Kato.

With ratings dropping, the decision was made to change the format. Yvonne Craig as Batgirl was added and the series began airing only once a week. The quality really declined here mostly due to the change in format and budget cuts. The series seemed to forget its concept and often teetered on the brink of self parody. That said there are still some real gems in the third season. Returns by Egghead and Shame, two of King Tuts absolute best appearances, Joan Collins' excellent debut as the series only super powered villain, The Siren, and Eartha Kitt's taking over the role of Catwoman from Julie Newmar who was unavailable at the time. While Julie is the preferred Catwoman by most, the more villainous turn taken by Eartha Kitt is refreshing.

Sadly the series went out with a wimper instead of a bang, with the last few episodes being real stinkers featuring some pretty bad guest villains like Zsa Zsa Gabor and Ida Lupino.

A Batarang Bottle Opener!

Still, all in all the series stands as a colossal success. Played for the last 48 years in reruns for future generations to enjoy, the popularity of this incarnation is at an all time high. The home video rights were mired in legal issues for year, only recently finally being resolved. A truly beautiful quality release on DVD and Blu-Ray is now available, and DC Comics who long treated the series as an eyesore in the history of the character they only wanted to present as a dark urban vigilante, even published a comic series in the series continuity.

Batman 66 ran for 30 monthly issues only recently ending, however specials and mini-series are still being made. New tales featuring the characters as they appeared gave us more appearances by the Bookworm, and thanks to likeness rights, he even looks like Roddy!

Merchandise has been coming out ever since the licensing and DVD deals were made. Everything from bendy figures to Batman's cowl to King Tuts very first action figure have been released. As you may have guessed, I own many of these. Just today Lego announced a massive 60's Batcave set is coming in March complete with Batmobile, Bat Copter and Bat Cycle!

Copy of original script signed by Adam West. Vintage Autographed photo by Adam West and Burt Ward. Vintage charm bracelet and Batman and Robin Society pin.

In closing, it's now past midnight. As I finish this it's tuesday, january 12th. 50 years ago tonight Adam West first donned the cape and cowl, revitalized a failing comic book character and made history. Happy Anniversary Batman and Robin. You changed the world. You inspired a lot of people. That's truly the best a couple of heroes could ever hope to achieve.

- Paul D. Poole
1/12/16

Dawn and I in The Batmobile!