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In case you were not aware, Chad and Jeremy were a real-life pop act who had several hit records in the 60s. They also made appearances on other shows including The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Patty Duke Show.
Batman "The Worst Is Yet To Come": Rewatching Batman '66
- Thread starter Mel O'Drama
- Start date
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I had a feeling they were, and I was going to look it up but I forgot.
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Chad Stuart is the father of James Patrick Stuart, Valentin Cassadine on General Hospital.
JPS was also Elaine's paramour in the Seinfeld episode about how "Desperado" by the Eagles is his favorite song.
I think the Junior Mint was in the same episode.
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Your post was a reminder of how many villains in the Tv series have disappeared from the Batman Universe, I believe because the rights to those characters
were never transferred
Marcia Queen of Diamonds
King Tut (Maxie Zeus is somewhat alike)
Egghead (Dr Hugo Strange has a similar intellect)
Minstrel
Ma Barker
Shane (Villanous version of Jonah Hex?)
False Face (Clayface, more so than Two Face)
Siren (the iconic Joan Collins: a Villanous version of Black Canary?)
Puzzler (an obvious Riddler clone, played by Maurice Evans with his usual theatricality, ME was also Samantha's father on Bewitched!)
Unrelated note: loved it when George Sanders played Mister Freeze!)
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I'd have to look up the details but a version of King Tut has been introduced into the comics in recent times.
An issue of the Batman '66 comic gave False Face as Clayface's origin story. Weird? Yes.
That was rewritten from a Riddler script when Frank Gorshin was unavailable.
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I did know about the Riddler script
There have been a number of Clayface versions.
Probably won't see one on film, since Batman films are now more grounded in a "real world'
although the Basil Karlo Clayface (an actor changing masks) might be possible
Some info on Maxie Zeus
MZ was a history teacher (King Tut was a college professor, I believe) who believed himself
to be the reincarnation of Zeus
Maxie Zeus
A deranged gang leader, Maximilian "Maxie" Zeus came to believe himself an avatar of the Olympian god Zeus. Creating a cult-like gang of henchmen to do his bidding, Zeus became a power-player in the Gotham City underworld. His criminal activities are perpetrated by his army of followers, and—he...
batman.fandom.com
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Well, I've finally finished season 2 (I'm afraid I have suddenly developed a watching-movies-addiction. Damn you , amazon prime!)
Some random thoughts and unapologetic Robin-mania:
The non-traditional Batman villains continue to be hit-and-miss. I found John Astin quite watchable as the recast Riddler, and without the maniacal menace of Frank Gorshin's performance - but still trying - he actually had some very camp moments.
The Puzzler is painfully uninspired and I don't remember anything of his story.
I dozed off during part 2 of the Green Hornet episode and I couldn't bother to watch it again. The name sounds vaguely familiar but I have no idea who the Green Hornet is/are.
Apart from the cliffhanger-trap (a matras) there is nothing characteristic about Sandman, however, the most murderous character in this episode is the obligatory billionaire in distress, J. Pauline Spaghetti (ha!).
Unless, of course, the most gruesome deaths of her former husbands was purely accidental and coincidental.
Anyway, whereas Sandman doesn't look like a Sandman at all, the first Mr. Freeze who also doesn't look very Freezy was actually the best Mr. Freeze because of everything they created around him.
He doesn't look freakish, he has a freakish lifestyle, and not by choice. And that makes him a unique villain imho.
The third Mr. Freeze is definitely a step-up from the second Mr. Freeze, but still not my cup of ice tea.
I was very pleased to see the return of Mad Hatter and there's another outrageously fabulous episode starring King Tut. Catwoman and Penguin are consistently entertaining and the Joker is fun too but his clowny dumbness usually undermines the urgency of his crooked capers.
Penguin is a great schemer and also very bitchy.
He uses that megaphone on -and-off set, but unlike the Joker, Penguin himself doesn't think of it as a hilarious gimmick. Yeah, I think that's the big difference.
There's "the cars in DALLAS" and there's the cars in Gotham City.
Ah ha! Batman has discovered my thread in the music forum. Music To Kiss Your Baby Bye Bye By | Forums for television shows past and present (tellytalk.net)
Fake musicians or not, a spontaneous dance by the Robin is something to behold.
But make no mistake, he's also very intelligent. And how could he not with a mentor like Bruce/Batman.
....
....
Possessive much?
Then there's mega-guest star Talullah Bankhead in her last role (I think).
Wow, she was only 66 but she sounds like 96 and that means she has out-Bette Davised Bette Davis.
Black Widow is all about her guest appearance because the character itself isn't anything special. There's that silly sci-fi device as we've seen in the Joker and Catwoman episodes and they're all rip-offs of Mad Hatter's techno-hypnotizer hat.
A big spider web does show up, as the cliffhanger-trap, but I had wanted to see more, more of a spider's theme. Nevertheless, that crackling voice and the way she breaks single syllables in two (da-arling) is simply divine Grand Dame Guignol.
The dummy neighbours are kinda creepy, come to think of it.
Here they are, the finest male Gothamites together in one scene. Salt of the earth!
And that's really how I've started to think of them, they have become my bestest friends.
Before I start with season 3 I'd like to do yet another retrospective pondering regarding my false start of the best TV series ever made.
What "went wrong" in those first episodes?
1. It wasn't exciting, like a real adventure.
2. It wasn't camp because the comedy was too obvious.
3. But since I didn't know how to approach this kind of comedy - simply because I had no idea that it was going to be like this - I failed to enjoy that, too.
It's a very famous TV series so I didn't think it would be too difficult to "get it", but there's no introduction style or story-wise. It just...begins.
Not that I always need to know what I'm going to watch, and as it turned out NuDoctor Who was love at first sight, as it were.
In hindsight, I'm glad BATMAN and I got off on the wrong foot because if I hadn't been surprised and somewhat disappointed by its UTTER daftness then I'm not sure I would appreciate that very daftness as much as I do now. The dafter the better, I'm revelling in it. Roll on season 3!
Some random thoughts and unapologetic Robin-mania:
The non-traditional Batman villains continue to be hit-and-miss. I found John Astin quite watchable as the recast Riddler, and without the maniacal menace of Frank Gorshin's performance - but still trying - he actually had some very camp moments.
The Puzzler is painfully uninspired and I don't remember anything of his story.
I dozed off during part 2 of the Green Hornet episode and I couldn't bother to watch it again. The name sounds vaguely familiar but I have no idea who the Green Hornet is/are.
Apart from the cliffhanger-trap (a matras) there is nothing characteristic about Sandman, however, the most murderous character in this episode is the obligatory billionaire in distress, J. Pauline Spaghetti (ha!).
Unless, of course, the most gruesome deaths of her former husbands was purely accidental and coincidental.
Anyway, whereas Sandman doesn't look like a Sandman at all, the first Mr. Freeze who also doesn't look very Freezy was actually the best Mr. Freeze because of everything they created around him.
He doesn't look freakish, he has a freakish lifestyle, and not by choice. And that makes him a unique villain imho.
The third Mr. Freeze is definitely a step-up from the second Mr. Freeze, but still not my cup of ice tea.
I was very pleased to see the return of Mad Hatter and there's another outrageously fabulous episode starring King Tut. Catwoman and Penguin are consistently entertaining and the Joker is fun too but his clowny dumbness usually undermines the urgency of his crooked capers.
Penguin is a great schemer and also very bitchy.
He uses that megaphone on -and-off set, but unlike the Joker, Penguin himself doesn't think of it as a hilarious gimmick. Yeah, I think that's the big difference.
There's "the cars in DALLAS" and there's the cars in Gotham City.
Ah ha! Batman has discovered my thread in the music forum. Music To Kiss Your Baby Bye Bye By | Forums for television shows past and present (tellytalk.net)
Fake musicians or not, a spontaneous dance by the Robin is something to behold.
But make no mistake, he's also very intelligent. And how could he not with a mentor like Bruce/Batman.
Possessive much?
Then there's mega-guest star Talullah Bankhead in her last role (I think).
Wow, she was only 66 but she sounds like 96 and that means she has out-Bette Davised Bette Davis.
Black Widow is all about her guest appearance because the character itself isn't anything special. There's that silly sci-fi device as we've seen in the Joker and Catwoman episodes and they're all rip-offs of Mad Hatter's techno-hypnotizer hat.
A big spider web does show up, as the cliffhanger-trap, but I had wanted to see more, more of a spider's theme. Nevertheless, that crackling voice and the way she breaks single syllables in two (da-arling) is simply divine Grand Dame Guignol.
The dummy neighbours are kinda creepy, come to think of it.
Here they are, the finest male Gothamites together in one scene. Salt of the earth!
And that's really how I've started to think of them, they have become my bestest friends.
Before I start with season 3 I'd like to do yet another retrospective pondering regarding my false start of the best TV series ever made.
What "went wrong" in those first episodes?
1. It wasn't exciting, like a real adventure.
2. It wasn't camp because the comedy was too obvious.
3. But since I didn't know how to approach this kind of comedy - simply because I had no idea that it was going to be like this - I failed to enjoy that, too.
It's a very famous TV series so I didn't think it would be too difficult to "get it", but there's no introduction style or story-wise. It just...begins.
Not that I always need to know what I'm going to watch, and as it turned out NuDoctor Who was love at first sight, as it were.
In hindsight, I'm glad BATMAN and I got off on the wrong foot because if I hadn't been surprised and somewhat disappointed by its UTTER daftness then I'm not sure I would appreciate that very daftness as much as I do now. The dafter the better, I'm revelling in it. Roll on season 3!
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As a child, I loved THE GREEN HORNET spin-off better than BATMAN.
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I just looked back to see what I wrote about John Astin's Riddler when re-watching and it seems he didn't even rate a mention for me (apart from a little discussion on Page One, way before I rewatched his episodes.
I'm another who hasn't watched an episode of TGH:
Like Batman, the Hornet's series was before my time, but I don't recall it ever being repeated on UK TV the way Batman was.
Not that continuity is to be taken seriously on Batman 66, but it's worth noting that The Green Hornet and Kato had a window cameo during one of Batman and Robin's rope climbs earlier in the season, where they appeared to know one another. But their main story as featured guests was built around the premise of them not knowing one another.
Music to my ears, Willie. And yes... I'm looking forward to your views (warts and all) on the final year.
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I liked John Astin. Would have preferred him as a different villain, (Thomas Blake/Cat-Man?, Harvey Dent, Kirl Langstrom/Man-Bat) or a new villain who was more like Gomez Adams.Well, I've finally finished season 2 (I'm afraid I have suddenly developed a watching-movies-addiction. Damn you , amazon prime!)
Some random thoughts and unapologetic Robin-mania:
The non-traditional Batman villains continue to be hit-and-miss. I found John Astin quite watchable as the recast Riddler, and without the maniacal menace of Frank Gorshin's performance - but still trying - he actually had some very camp moments.
The Puzzler is painfully uninspired and I don't remember anything of his story.
I dozed off during part 2 of the Green Hornet episode and I couldn't bother to watch it again. The name sounds vaguely familiar but I have no idea who the Green Hornet is/are.
Apart from the cliffhanger-trap (a matras) there is nothing characteristic about Sandman, however, the most murderous character in this episode is the obligatory billionaire in distress, J. Pauline Spaghetti (ha!).
Unless, of course, the most gruesome deaths of her former husbands was purely accidental and coincidental.
Anyway, whereas Sandman doesn't look like a Sandman at all, the first Mr. Freeze who also doesn't look very Freezy was actually the best Mr. Freeze because of everything they created around him.
He doesn't look freakish, he has a freakish lifestyle, and not by choice. And that makes him a unique villain imho.
The third Mr. Freeze is definitely a step-up from the second Mr. Freeze, but still not my cup of ice tea.
I was very pleased to see the return of Mad Hatter and there's another outrageously fabulous episode starring King Tut. Catwoman and Penguin are consistently entertaining and the Joker is fun too but his clowny dumbness usually undermines the urgency of his crooked capers.
Penguin is a great schemer and also very bitchy.
He uses that megaphone on -and-off set, but unlike the Joker, Penguin himself doesn't think of it as a hilarious gimmick. Yeah, I think that's the big difference.
There's "the cars in DALLAS" and there's the cars in Gotham City.
View attachment 42339
Ah ha! Batman has discovered my thread in the music forum. Music To Kiss Your Baby Bye Bye By | Forums for television shows past and present (tellytalk.net)
Fake musicians or not, a spontaneous dance by the Robin is something to behold.
But make no mistake, he's also very intelligent. And how could he not with a mentor like Bruce/Batman.
........View attachment 42340
Possessive much?
Then there's mega-guest star Talullah Bankhead in her last role (I think).
Wow, she was only 66 but she sounds like 96 and that means she has out-Bette Davised Bette Davis.
Black Widow is all about her guest appearance because the character itself isn't anything special. There's that silly sci-fi device as we've seen in the Joker and Catwoman episodes and they're all rip-offs of Mad Hatter's techno-hypnotizer hat.
A big spider web does show up, as the cliffhanger-trap, but I had wanted to see more, more of a spider's theme. Nevertheless, that crackling voice and the way she breaks single syllables in two (da-arling) is simply divine Grand Dame Guignol.
The dummy neighbours are kinda creepy, come to think of it.
Here they are, the finest male Gothamites together in one scene. Salt of the earth!
And that's really how I've started to think of them, they have become my bestest friends.
Before I start with season 3 I'd like to do yet another retrospective pondering regarding my false start of the best TV series ever made.
What "went wrong" in those first episodes?
1. It wasn't exciting, like a real adventure.
2. It wasn't camp because the comedy was too obvious.
3. But since I didn't know how to approach this kind of comedy - simply because I had no idea that it was going to be like this - I failed to enjoy that, too.
It's a very famous TV series so I didn't think it would be too difficult to "get it", but there's no introduction style or story-wise. It just...begins.
Not that I always need to know what I'm going to watch, and as it turned out NuDoctor Who was love at first sight, as it were.
In hindsight, I'm glad BATMAN and I got off on the wrong foot because if I hadn't been surprised and somewhat disappointed by its UTTER daftness then I'm not sure I would appreciate that very daftness as much as I do now. The dafter the better, I'm revelling in it. Roll on season 3!
The first Mr. Freeze was the great George Sanders, still my favorite version.
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Starring Van Williams ... and Bruce Lee! It was "cooler" and more mysterious than BATMAN --- and I still remember TGH theme music!
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Dynasty's John James is based on Van Williams: a handsome unactory actor who has only used his acting career as a financial investment.
Not saying that this is a bad thing to do.
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I have watched the first 4 episodes and I remembered your mention about the full episodes (instead of the two-parters with the cliffhanger) BUT I assumed these were the full hour episodes, not half hour episodes.
The first two episodes featuring the introduction of Batgirl, a surprisingly lame scheme by Penguin and another one by the Riddler (I've already forgotten what he did) looked alarmingly rushed, and that includes the dialogue as well i.e. Robin's reply reduced to "roger". Ugh!
The third episode starring Joan Collins (hurrah!) made me feel a little bit more confident because I realised that the 30 minute routine could be the perfect vehicle for the obscure one-off villains who wouldn't be interesting enough for the two-parters.
Siren's vocal weapon sounds excruciating but overall I quite enjoyed this episode. She even has the gall to call Catwoman an amateur, nevertheless she almost achieves what no other villain had achieved so far: to expose Bruce and Dick as the Dynamic Duo.
It's so funny to see Commissioner Gordon staggering out of the Batmobile while the unsuspecting Alfred is doing his Batcave duties, but Gordon's realisation is big enough for a season cliffhanger.
After she's swindled Bruce Wayne out of his entire fortune, this kinda looks like a dry run for DYNASTY's sixth season cliffhanger.
Actually, the fourth story featuring Penguin and Lola Lasagna doesn't conclude at the end of the episode so I guess the one or two parts depends on the complexity of the story - in this case, horses and umbrellas and parasols.
Ooh, careful Batman. This looks very dangerous!
What impact Batgirl will have on me personally remains to be seen. While there's absolutely nothing unlikeable about Barbara/Batgirl I have yet to be convinced why she has to be there. A good reason I can think of is that some female villains could get involved in the physical fights, but I better not be too optimistic about that.
But I'm a sucker for fake/turning walls so at least there's that.
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It's not a spin-off but an attempt by Dozier and company to pull off another hit. In addition to the wall gag mentioned by Mel, there's a brief moment of them actually watching The Green Hornet on television. So, take your pick: they're either friends, enemies, or simply characters from a TV show.
I don't remember it ever being on here. I finally saw it by buying a DVD set. Surprisingly, it's not at all like Batman in tone; it's more the style of the George Reeves Superman series.
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Yes - a wonderfully comic visual, perfectly fitting in with the series' tone.
After she's swindled Bruce Wayne out of his entire fortune, this kinda looks like a dry run for DYNASTY's sixth season cliffhanger.
Oh.. I didn't 100% clock this when I rewatched, but I was thinking along similar lines when it came to her learning her villainy at the feet of a master:
The cynical behind-the-scenes fact is that she was there to try and boost figures by drawing in the female demographic who statistics showed weren't watching (I'm not sure how effective it was).
The character was also used to help sell the third season to ABC (who were presumably wavering) and there was a great deal of horizontal marketing going on, with Batman '66 producers urging the comics editor to create a new female character to appear in both media (her debut in print was some 9 months before she arrived on TV, and is actually the oldest comic I own).
I'm quite fond of the character, so I suppose that's been enough for me not to think too deeply about how well it all came off, but I do think she's an enjoyable aspect of this season.
Definitely. I said this when I last watched:
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Holy disappointment! I had expected the girls to watch it for Boy Wonder.
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As a point of detail, Batgirl didn't work for Batman, she was self-employed.
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Season 3 seemed to have even less of a budget, and it just wasn't as much fu.
The villains seemed watered own, and less clever.
The villains seemed watered own, and less clever.
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Even a series that revels in comical lameness isn't without "rules" and the villains need to take themselves seriously enough.
The Joker has never been one of my favourites but the SURFER episode really was an all-time low.
When the villains act as a duo they seem to cancel each other out and I'm not going to watch the Egghead/Olga episodes anymore.
Holy travel brochure! The dynamic duo and their Gotham City entourage visit Londinium and naturally these on-location scenes warrant not two but three episodes.
Having said that, some of the sets look suspiciously familiar.
I also noticed that the titled camera angles are becoming a little exccessive, it usually only works for the more fantastical and psychedelic sets, not the living rooms.
And when it goes from one side to the other side it almost make me feel seasick, but then again, maybe that's appropriate for a metropolis located on an island.
And perhaps that also explains why they drive on the left side of the road, it's safer that way.
It's almost as if they could read my mind because here they are making fun of the tilted camera angle itself.
Another stupid miracle device has popped up: the memory eraser. The good part is that Alfred has to come up with a solution device.
This would definitely shortcut many SoapLand amnesia storylines.
The villains are the aristocratic brother/sister duo Lord Marmaduke Fogg and Lady Penelope Peasoup (a fine performance by Glynis Johns).
It seems as if Batgirl is getting more successfully integrated despite the Dynamic Duo's somewhat misogynistic attitude. Come to think of it, perhaps that's exactly what has manipulated me to root for the alter ego of Gotham City's mild-mannered librarian.
The way Batman handles the file seems quite suggestive. Well, not that there's another way to use it.
Incidentally, I had not expected the Dutch word "veil" to translate into something as straightforward and semi-literal as "file".
Meanwhile, Robin has a taste of Beatles mania when he's begin befussled by aggressive Londiminium girls.
What's that? Is the Lad Wonder going to lose his virginity? Find out in the next episode.
This is so funny.
It's not that the scrap of paper was microscopically small and therefore it's completely unnecessary to look at it that way (or the fact that it isn't there anymore).
Eartha Kitt is BATMAN's answer to Alison Carr: a wicked villain, but without the vulnerability and self-justification of Julie Newmar's Catwoman.
NuCatwoman's car is atrocious and more suitable for a Gay Pride parade, but she's still digging for treasures buried in Gotham City. I really like that animal aspect of this character.
Pip-pip, cheerio, toodle-oo.