The »KA-POW!« Batman

April 28, 2022 12:09 PM

THE BATMAN, starring Adam West

How they did it: We put the OLDEST Batman into the NEWEST Batman

posted by chavenet (52 comments total)

This was fun. I grew up on the Adam West Batman, which I loved and took completely seriously. I've never gotten into the darker versions.

This McSweeney's seems pertinent: I am Eight Years Old and Would Like a Batman Movie Aimed at Me, Please
posted by FencingGal at 12:16 PM on April 28, 2022 [44 favorites]

Fantastic. Thank you.
posted by zerobyproxy at 12:22 PM on April 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Wonderful. Would be perfect if they could have gotten Eartha Kitt in there as well.
posted by straight at 12:26 PM on April 28, 2022 [12 favorites]

Holy shit I would watch that movie.
posted by Horkus at 12:42 PM on April 28, 2022 [11 favorites]

Me too! It looks awesome! And that McSweeney's thing is the saddest thing I've read today.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:49 PM on April 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

[ weeps with desire ]
posted by seanmpuckett at 1:00 PM on April 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Batman '66 is a DC comic book based on the old TV series and offering the same Adam West style stories and characters. There are 30 issues and at least one collection available.
posted by Paul Slade at 1:02 PM on April 28, 2022 [4 favorites]

Why Batman star Adam West turned down 007
posted by clavdivs at 1:18 PM on April 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

I wish that they had used more sources for their video than the Batman 66 movie. I thought that it was worse than the TV series. But still, this was entertaining.
posted by Quonab at 1:22 PM on April 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

This was fun. I grew up on the Adam West Batman, which I loved and took completely seriously. I've never gotten into the darker versions.

Me too! I'd really enjoy a movie like this. We've had tons and tons of dark, grim, broody Batman movies.

This reminds me of the cool Grayson fan film (2004; previously, Wikipedia), a fake trailer for a modern Batman movie with the TV show costumes. Also, Batman fights Superman long before they fought in that other crappy movie.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:28 PM on April 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

They grabbed the "how come Batman doesn't dance anymore?" line from The Simpsons. I don't know if they grabbed anything from Family Guy, but that's probably a treasure trove of Adam West saying things in his Batman voice.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 1:30 PM on April 28, 2022 [6 favorites]

Grew up on the Adam West Batman, so...

The Best Batman

(and the best Riddler)
posted by Windopaene at 1:39 PM on April 28, 2022 [7 favorites]

For novelty's sake, I'd also appreciate a peek at the other way around:
[Christian Bale bat-voice] "Remember, Citizens - there's no substitute for a diligent program of proper oral hygiene! Have a conversation with your dentist this week."
posted by bartleby at 2:14 PM on April 28, 2022 [13 favorites]

When I taught composition, I put the same Adam West/Batman quote on the board at the beginning of the semester: "Good grammar is essential, Robin."

I also put up the Animal House Faber College motto: Knowledge is good.
posted by FencingGal at 2:24 PM on April 28, 2022 [5 favorites]

The original scene of Batman running around, trying to get rid of the bomb, is the best thing about Batman (1966).
posted by jabah at 2:26 PM on April 28, 2022 [16 favorites]

> I wish that they had used more sources for their video than the Batman 66 movie. I thought that it was worse than the TV series. But still, this was entertaining.

They must have used the movie because it was shot on 35mm and has been available in high quality far longer than the TV show. It’s much cheaper to own too, with the series only available in a high quality box set that isn’t cheap. Those Adobe license don’t give you a lot of wiggle room to buy Blu-Rays !
posted by papineau at 3:03 PM on April 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

They grabbed the "how come Batman doesn't dance anymore?" line from The Simpsons.

And, terrifyingly, "Mr. Plow" aired in 1992, which means significantly more time has passed since it premiered than between the end of Adam West's Batman and the original Simpsons air date.
posted by thecaddy at 3:12 PM on April 28, 2022 [18 favorites]

Am I the only one who sees this and thinks it’s oil and water? I watched partway through and literally said “this is bad” and x-ed out. Thumbs up to y’all who got a kick out of it, but it just didn’t work for me.

FTR, I grew up loving West/Ward, then Keaton, then Bale, and I’ve read plenty of the comics. I like many Batmans, just not Chocolate Sardine Batman.
posted by cupcakeninja at 3:14 PM on April 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

I was born in November of 1964. My first word was "Batman". In high school, I dated a girl whose first word was also "Batman". I didn't believe her, but her mother verified it.

It was the theme song, you see.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 3:18 PM on April 28, 2022 [15 favorites]

Holy heavy petting, Ivan!
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:19 PM on April 28, 2022 [12 favorites]

"Am I the only one who sees this and thinks it’s oil and water?"

That's the point.
posted by jonathanhughes at 4:25 PM on April 28, 2022 [7 favorites]

I have been wanting a Batman movie to have the line "Atomic batteries to power, turbines to speed" since 1989 and this is still the closest I've seen.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 4:31 PM on April 28, 2022 [8 favorites]

The original scene of Batman running around, trying to get rid of the bomb, is the best thing about Batman (1966).

Batman having a telephone conversation with Bruce Wayne is the second best thing about Batman.

"Two fine men....so dissimilar in many respects and yet so similar in others"
posted by RonButNotStupid at 4:41 PM on April 28, 2022 [14 favorites]

I enjoyed the trailer and I like the Corridor Crew, but the making-of video got on my nerves with all the fanboy bashing of the old show. They seemed genuinely miffed that somebody had made a campy comedy out of their beloved Dark Knight, and they just could not appreciate the show for what it was. Lighten up, guys. There's plenty of grimdark Batman stuff out there, and there's room for the BIFF BAM POW Batman too.

But yeah, I too caught the show in reruns as a kid and totally bought it as a straight-up superhero show. When I saw it again as an adult I was amazed to discover that it was this deliberately goofy, delightful thing. I was also surprised to find that, against all odds, Frank Gorshin's Riddler was actually kind of scary. As a kid he was never my favorite villain, but as an adult I found the creepy gleam in his eyes genuinely unnerving. He's over the top, sure, but he's over the top in a crazy way and not in a kiddie show way. He's the one element in the old show that I could kind of see working in a modern, serious Batman movie.

Also: Adam West is by no means the oldest Batman.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:46 PM on April 28, 2022 [8 favorites]

I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that it led out with "Bigger Bomb???" scrawled on the floor (the rest of what's written there is also great) and concluded with a bigger bomb.
posted by mhoye at 6:36 PM on April 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

Watching reruns of this show on school days and then hurrying back to school, just ever so slightly late, and getting yelled at for it but not caring because the other kids were jealous I could see Batman while they had to stay at school are some of my fondest childhood memories. Or would have been if I could have made it back on time. Our seventh grade teacher was not unlike the Riddler, now that I think of it.
posted by SirThomasLackwit at 6:42 PM on April 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

It really is a simple aesthetic question of ‘how camp’. The premise is a rich guy who dresses up as a bat-man to fight crime; there’s never going to be zero camp. Does it mean full Rocky Horror Batman is a good idea? Probably not, but somewhere there’s a golden mean between that and War On Terror macho grunty Batman, and IMO Adam West is pretty close
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 6:43 PM on April 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

On second thoughts I'd watch the shit out of Rocky Horror Batman. A young couple arrive in the rain at night at Wayne Mansion, looking for directions. They're met by butler Alfred (Benedict Cumberbatch) and invited in by Bruce Wayne (Nic Cage), in a dressing gown, tights, and red lipstick. 'I see you've met my faithful... handyman'
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 7:03 PM on April 28, 2022 [10 favorites]

I am Eight Years Old and Would Like a Batman Movie Aimed at Me, Please

The Lego Batman Movie has, as the kids say, entered the chat
posted by oulipian at 7:07 PM on April 28, 2022 [15 favorites]

Sure, Arnold Schwarzenegger made a ton of silly ice puns in Batman & Robin. Know who found them delightful? Me!

I had comic nerd acquaintance who was so disgusted by this movie that he got up, during a free screening, and vomited. I thought that was ridiculous but I avoided the movie partially for that reason. But you know I watched this movie (Batman & Robin) for the first time last year? Year before? (time is strange now) with my son, now a tween, and we frankly enjoyed it. I showed him the trailer for this new The Batman movie and my son said, QFT, "You can see that one on our own. I like superheroes movies when they are fun." But an Adam West The Batman movie? All over it.
posted by Ashwagandha at 7:31 PM on April 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

Which Batman to watch? Here's how. If it says "Batman," good. If it says "the Batman," bad.
posted by mono blanco at 7:32 PM on April 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

Fiasco de Gama: Bruce Wayne/ Batwoman as Frank N. Furter, Jason Todd/Red Hood as Eddie, Clark Kent as Rocky.... Barbara Gordon as The Criminologist (Girl with No Neck)..... Catwoman as Magenta, Harley Quinn as Columbia.

I agree. We need a hyper-camp, flamboyant, rainbow Rocky Batman. Were I still in Portland I'd be getting the Clinton Street theatre troupe to try assembling this....
posted by LeRoienJaune at 8:21 PM on April 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

I thought there was one WAY older, but it turns out I just didn't have my glasses on:
IN A WORLD...
where the dead are left for the birds and dogs
where mothers marry their sons
ONLY ONE MAN
can make the journey to Colonus, and bring back a prophecy to save. his. city.
He's back! He's Mad! He's blind! He killed his Dad!
THIS SUMMER
Rex Oedipus is - - -
THEBAN MAN
posted by bartleby at 8:32 PM on April 28, 2022 [8 favorites]

Ursula Hitler, back when you could find cheap dvd's at the dollar store, I bought one that had a couple of episodes of the batman serial. It was not good. Though it was most probably the earliest batman. I did watch some of this video, but would have enjoyed it more without the making of bits. I don't care to know how the sausage is made.
posted by evilDoug at 10:00 PM on April 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Bertleby: I've always wanted to see a production of Coriolanus set in the world of 2000AD's Judge Dredd. Dredd's contempt for politics makes him a natural for the title role, with the Council of Judges as the conniving senators.
posted by Paul Slade at 11:06 PM on April 28, 2022 [6 favorites]

My sister was born in 1965 and the family legend is that her first word was Batman.
posted by The Monster at the End of this Thread at 4:25 AM on April 29, 2022 [4 favorites]

That was so well done. Thank you for sharing it, chavenet.

(Old enough here to have watched the original show. I think the Bat-group introduced me to camp.)
posted by doctornemo at 5:45 AM on April 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

MetaFilter: our seventh grade teacher was not unlike the Riddler.
posted by doctornemo at 5:45 AM on April 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

The Best Batman

(and the best Riddler)

Possibly for both.

Definitely the best Batmobile, though.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:58 AM on April 29, 2022 [2 favorites]

I, too, grew up on Adam West's Batman. I used to watch the reruns all of the time, even though if they didn't have Batgirl swinging into frame at 5 seconds into the intro I knew it would be an inferior episode. Didn't matter. I wore my father's old Batman costume from the early 50s with my rubbery rainboots while watching, and after the episodes were finished, I'd BAM! POP! KAPOW! my way to the swing set in the backyard and recreate the whole thing.

The first Batman movie was fun. The second was darker but I was still a teen so I didn't care. But over the years my caped crusader was taken over by the Serious Artsy Grimdark crowd. While it's sad, I guess everyone needs a mascot.

All of this is to say that I loved this video with every ounce of my heart. Thank you for posting it and, FencingGal, that McSweeney's piece is perfect.
posted by kimberussell at 6:24 AM on April 29, 2022 [6 favorites]

I strongly object to the term ‘Goofy Batman’. I’d prefer ‘the real Batman’. He looks more handsome in this than I remember him.

My son (born in ‘73, so not sure where he picked this up) did not have Batman as his first word, but the earliest phrase we remember him saying was ‘Dunna dunna dunna dunna FAT MAN!’
posted by MtDewd at 7:22 AM on April 29, 2022 [8 favorites]

I guess everyone knows this joke buy anyway here you go. How does Batman's mom call him to dinner?

dinnerdinnerdinnerdinnerdinnerdinnerdinnerdinnerBATMAN!
posted by mono blanco at 7:26 AM on April 29, 2022 [4 favorites]

I am Eight Years Old and Would Like a Batman Movie Aimed at Me, Please

The Lego Batman Movie has, as the kids say, entered the chat

Nobody cares about Lego Batman (jk he's the best thing in that sketch)
posted by Mchelly at 7:29 AM on April 29, 2022 [2 favorites]

'I see you've met my faithful... handyman'

There's a light
Signaling way up in the sky
There's a light
Calling Batman to fight crime
There's a light, a light
Bringing hope to Gotham's darkest nights

~~~

Can't ya can't ya just catch me
I wanna feel Batty

~~~

Let's do the Bat Dance again
posted by otherchaz at 8:19 AM on April 29, 2022 [3 favorites]

Ursula Hitler - Frank Gorshin was a master at being unsettling. I still maintain that despite Let That Be Your Last Battlefield being one of the worst Star Trek TOS episodes, his performance as Bele feels so alien.
posted by wittgenstein at 8:22 AM on April 29, 2022 [4 favorites]

'I see you've met my faithful... handyman'

.. at which point Rocky Horror Bruce goes into this old Alberta Hunter song:

"He shakes my ashes,
Greases my griddle,
Churns my butter,
And he strokes my fiddle, aw
My man, is such a handy man."
posted by Paul Slade at 11:07 AM on April 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

Oh, I forgot to mention: In addition to the aforementioned Grayson, no list of Fake Trailers For Batman Movies That Would Have Been Better Than Any Real Batman Movie would be complete without mentioning The Batman Complex.
posted by mhoye at 11:22 AM on April 29, 2022 [2 favorites]

Assume born 1/1/1970 (make the math easy). Sometime in the pre-pre-school age I have this memory of running around the yard in my dun-duh-duns (tighty-whities, underwear) waiting for my uncle and cousins to come into town so we can wrestle. But there's a limit on that, mom's gonna let me know when Batman is coming on. Batman!

There was also this church friend family that had a local/regional candy factory, one of them had if not an original Batmobile, at least a wondrous fan build of the Batmobile. They'd often leave it out in the parking lot for people driving by with kids to pull in and gawk at "it's the Batmoibile!".

Probably also my childhood obsession with having a cave under the house. And meow, catwoman....
posted by zengargoyle at 12:13 PM on April 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

My god, that was wonderful.

You can tell the 60s cast was having SO MUCH FUN - Meredith, Romero, Newmar, Kitt, Gorshin, and of course our titular hero and sidekick. And the less-seen villains, good grief - OTTO freakin' PREMINGER, Vincent Price, Carolyn Jones!!!

And yes, that is the definitive Batmobile.
posted by davidmsc at 12:50 PM on April 29, 2022 [2 favorites]

The Best Batman

(and the best Riddler)

soundtrack for the thread
posted by flabdablet at 8:30 PM on April 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

I watched all 120 West episodes this year in order and it was the most fun I’ve had in ages. I like some of the movies but he’ll always be the real Batman to me. Also Eartha Kitt is fine, but Julie Newmar is the best Catwoman.
posted by freecellwizard at 8:41 PM on April 29, 2022 [5 favorites]

Not long ago TCM aired the entire Batman serial from 1949. If you had only seen modern Batman and set out to make a parody version set in the 40s you could not have made it funnier. The villain was The Wizard, who wears a black bag over his head and paces his lair twiddling dials. Absolutely delightful.
posted by Flexagon at 9:24 AM on May 2, 2022 [1 favorite]