Friday Fun BATMAN "Bat-Climb featuring Santa Claus"

Let's kick off Friday Fun's Yuletide season with the ultimate team-up: Kris Kringle...

...and the legendary Dynamic Duo, Batman and Robin!

One of the hallmarks of 1960s Batman series was the "Bat-Climb", where the Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder would encounter celebrities or characters from other shows as they scaled the wall of a building with their Bat-Rope (using a set turned sideways so the actors were merely pretending to be climbing.)

In this second-season episode ("The Duo is Slumming", featuring the one-shot villain Puzzler), airing right before Christmas in 1966, the Dynamic Duo meet Kris Kringle, played by an uncredited Andy Devine.

(After all, the producers didn't want kids to think Santa wasn't real...)
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Batman
the Complete 1960s TV Series

Adam West's Long-Lost FIRST Appearance in Comic Books!

Five years before the late Adam West played comic book character Batman on TV...

...he appeared in a comic book based on a TV show!

His character, Detective Sgt Steve Nelson was added in 1961 to the cast for the third and final season of the police procedural The Detectives, which already featured a pair of actors who would go on to other genre shows during the 1960s...Mark Goddard on Lost in Space and Tige Andrews on The Mod Squad!

See the first, never-reprinted rendering of Adam West in comic books on our "brother" RetroBlog Secret Sanctum of Captain Video...HERE!

Adam West (1928-2017)

This is a post I hoped I'd never write...

Batman is dead.

Actually, Adam West, the actor who personified the character for a generation of fans (and many since) has passed away.

Many will discuss his portrayal of the Caped Crusader, but, I'd like you fans to see a project that, had it sold, could've gotten him back to the level of William Shatner in terms of overcoming the heroic stereotyping and re-establishing him as a full-time working performer.

Lookwell, created and written by Robert Smigel and Conan O'Brien in 1991.
Forgive me, but my eyes are too clouded with tears to continue...

Batman the TV Series on DVD/BluRay...FINALLY!

We're Leaping for Joy!

At last, the 1960s Batman TV series is being released on home video!

A complete series box set has been confirmed, with individual season sets a likely alternative for those who don't want to spend a fortune at one shot...

Ah, to relive the childhood memories of those long-lost days...

Now, where's the other Dynamic Duo of the 1960s...

The Green Hornet?

(and Kato, of course)

Why not a mega-set of the two shows?

YouTube Wednesday: Batman

Last Wednesday, we looked at Superman, so this week let's peek at Batman...

First, the 1943 serial (which predated the live-action Superman serials)...

Note: this is the trailer from the 1965 re-release which identifies the first serial, Batman, by the title of the second serial, Batman and Robin!
Then, the trailer for the 1966 Batman movie produced between the first and second seasons of the tv show!

And, if you're wondering why they did it that way, intead of doing the movie first, then the tv series...
1) Many American households still didn't have color tvs in 1966, so they saw the show in b/w, even though it was broadcast in color!
The movie was the first time many fans saw the live-action heroes in color!
2) The bigger budget enabled the producers to build and film a number of additional vehicles and props including the BatCopter, BatBoat, and BatCycle, and a larger Batcave set, which were then reused for the remainder of the tv series' run!
In 1989 Tim Burton brought a kool gothic feel to Batman..

...which Joel Schumacher destroyed in Batman & Robin!

and Christopher Nolan restored in the reboot, Batman Begins...

..and continued in Dark Knight!

Bonus: though it's not live-action, here's "The Dark Knight Returns" from the 1990s animated series...

...because Michael Ironside as a middle-aged Batman is just too good to miss!

Happy (Belated) Anniversary, Batman!

With all the hubbub about the new Green Hornet film, it totally slipped my mind that January 12th marked the 45th anniversary of the debut of the pop-art oriented Batman tv series, without which, there wouldn't have been a Green Hornet series to "inspire" Seth Rogan's flick!
Here's a special treat for the pop art graphics aficionados among you...

The iconic LIFE magazine cover featuring Adam West...

...and the pic it was flopped and cropped from!