"Holy Golden Anniversary, 'Batman'! Classic TV show turns 50"

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/12/entertainment/batman-50-anniversary-burt-ward-feat/index.html

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smith...w-tvs-batman-turns-50-month-180957766/?no-ist

I remember watching the premiere on my parents B&W Zenith console...I was 7 years old at the time and thought it was absolutely the greatest thing ever........

 

We still watch it every Saturday night on MeTV. My kids (ages 14 & 6) thought it was cool for the first couple of episodes but now it is only my wife and I who watch it, the kids kicked us to the curb months ago.

 

Hooray for Bat Blu-ray.

 

Speaking for us out-of-it 11-year-olds, I can say that I was bewildered and kind of pissed-off that they veered so far away from the DC comic book and made the show corny and campy. I disliked it quite a bit, but I don't deny I never missed an episode. I was particularly bummed-out that there were a ton of comic stories they never touched, they invented some very lame villains ("The Mad Hatter," "Louis De Lilac," "Egghead"), and avoided using some great existing comic book villains like Two-Face. I think ABC was concerned about a character where half his face was burned away by acid, which would be tough to do in 1966 prime-time TV.

I think the modern incarnation of Batman in film has gone too far the other way and made Batman much too creepy and full of angst and depression. I think there's a happy medium that works better... but having said that, I actually enjoy the Gotham TV show far more than I ever did the 1960s Batman show. Doing it as an outright comedy seemed like a cheap cheat to me.

 

I love 60s Batman, and the Bale films, and really like the first two Tim Burton movies, but I honestly think the best treatment of the character was the original run of Batman: The Animated Series

I think it found the middle ground you refer to, and the animators really tried to achieve a certain level of art with the show, modeling after the Fleischer Superman cartoons in style.

 

The documentary "Starring Adam West" is really a fun watch. Check it out, especially if you're a fan of the original.

 

Damn! 50 years...I can remember watching each episode with that fabulous eye popping color!
great memories...

 

http://batman-news.com/2016/01/12/adam-west-batman-50-anniversary/

I am disappointed with myself for letting the moment pass. It's been a weird week.

Happy Anniversary, Batman!

 

Eartha Kitt and Julie Newmar as Catwoman...............holy hormones, Batman !!!!
(lee meriwether not so much )

 

Yvonne Craig as BatGirl

 

I read that Est and Ward are going to do a couple animated shows this summer for the anniversary. That would be a cool way to do a couple of new episodes of it is done right.

I believe they said Newmar will voice Catwoman also

 

I watched the show religiously back in the day. I took some ribbing from classmates about it though. As it turns out, I guess they were less hip than I was ...

I haven't seen any of the movies except the first one (with Lee Meriwether as Catwoman), and I didn't see that one until some time in the '90s because it never came to the theatres up here (I was looking for it in the listings; nada).

I used to read comic books back then too but rarely if ever Batman. My DC favourites were the Legion of Super-heroes with their variegated powers, and then later I discovered Marvel ... 'nuff said!

 

In the Sheaf (pub) car park earlier, in the bouncing rain, was a small overall'd chap with his head under the bonnet of a car, spanners swimming everywhere on the floor at his feet. Next to him was this scooter. Saw the Batman signs and thought of my boy, away on holiday, who is a Bat-fan. I asked if he minded if I took a shot. He never looked up, never made eye contact. Just a heavy sigh and "S'ppose so.....". Miserable ****. Guess he didn't get any Easter eggs today....

 

I have fond memories of watching this everyday after elementary school from its syndication run. I loved the cliffhangers and how they would inevitably get resolved within the opening minute of the next episode.

 

I watched it as a kid as well, even noticing the crazy camera angles they used...I also had the batman trading card and TV soundtrack, it was a big deal back in 1966...

 

Yes it was. 'Must-see' tv for my mom & me. We had trading cards from the tv series too. Wonder if the UK versions we the same as the American cards? Mine are long gone.

 

Watched all the episodes back in the 60's, trading cards, also had the ViewMaster discs. They picked a great episode - Catwoman in the Catacombs episode(s). I didn't have a color TV yet, and seeing those images in color....WOW.

 

Grew up with the reruns and have much nostalgia for it. What made it work was that everyone really tried and could have even been successful if it was seriously done. They took what the comics were doing at the time under Julius Schwartz and ran with it. Eventually they ran out of steam and began repeating themselves like most any other show will.

It's far better than people realize and that we have it on Bluray is still shocking.

But the animated series is definitive. As much as I love Adam West and the '66 show it is merely a part of the Crusader's world and past. Bruce Timm's animated universes try to encapsulate the whole world of the character and succeed in ways impossible by any other means. To me Kevin Conroy as Batman is on the level of the great Shakesperians.

 

Can't believe it's been 50 years.