100% awesome. So glad the rights issues were worked out. I have a high-quality bootleg I've been watching since '09, taped straight from CBS' vaults, but I will buy this especially if it comes with extra stuff. I kind of figured it must be in the pipeline when there were suddenly Batman '66 toys and comics available last year. Just got, via Amazon, a new collection of stories that the TV show drew from. Great stuff! The only real Batman is Adam West.
Given the demand it's likely to be priced quite high at first so they can extract the maximum from those of us eager after literally decades waiting for this. I'll have to wait and see, despite knowing that eventually I will get it. My Superman, Flash, and Wonder Woman DVDs look now incomplete.
Good news, I suppose, but I agree with Rip, in that I think the price will probably be exorbitant. I know I'll probably wait until used copies start appearing on places like eBay or the Amazon marketplace.
Wow and wow.. I knew the momentum was favoring an upcoming release, but this is cherished news.
Like Matt, I too have a 6-7 disk 'reasonably' hi-qual copy someone done off TVLand or something.
Like Matt, 'the only REAL Batman IS Adam West'.
It will be great to finally see uncut and perhaps re-digitized video, unlike LIS and Monkees, which were pretty much uncleaned, standard-quality prints you see ran on television.
Adam West's commentary: He did it for all the episodes a few years ago as a separate release. It would be awesome to be sittin' on the couch with both Burt and Adam (perhaps Yvonne) giving nice background commentary.
High price..? Well, you did have the Land of the Giants 'limited edition' set which even used is STILL over a hundred bucks on Amazon.
Y'know what..? Even an high priced edition will still go fast.
Now to see if they'll release it in a 1:6 scale Batmobile package (for my Captain Action figures..).
C'mon everyone...: BAT-DANCE for King Tut..!!
Sorry, did I mention 'Adam West is the ONLY real Batman'..?
Good call david_b. What would a Batman '66 post be without mentioning Julie Newmar? Too bad she wasn't able to be in the movie. Still in all, give me Newmar/Meriwether/Kitt over Hathaway/Berry/Pfeiffer any day.
Sounds like kudos all around to '66 Batman and the entire cast. So what do you guys say to people who say that the campiness of the show set superhero comics back a generation or more from being taken seriously (or if not comics as a whole, then the Batman character and his comics)?
Tom, I would say folks really don't understand the '66 Bat-craze and it's overwhelming effect on the industry, mostly good.
1) A lot of folks struggled with the seemingly 'audacious' nature of how Batman went campy.. If you view the entire television series as a comedy/adventure show using 'the concept' of Batman for it's own use, it comes across much better, and the serious comic collectors don't view it as bad when it's looked at in that light, like it supposed to be canon or something. It's like, 'We need a superhero to model the concept from, let's use Batman.'
2) Set Batman comics back..? Back from what..? Batmite, Bathound, outer-space Batman..? I'd ask 'How was Batman taken seriously then..?' And it was nearly cancelled by DC, or so the legend goes..?
3) The explosive re-emergence of interest in comics brought in some major players who wouldn't have been interested in comics otherwise, such as Steranko and Adams..
4) I'd like to think those folks who lament it wasn't taken seriously probably weren't paying attention to the kids on playgrounds across the country who gave up playing cowboys and spacemen, and donning big towels as capes.
Why should super heroes be taken seriously? They're inherently goofy. I think people who don't like Batman '66 are upset because it pokes fun at how ludicrous super heroes are. For me, much of the problem with modern comics is how seriously they take what is a silly thing in itself. I love super hero comics but I know they aren't really meant to be for grown-ups to take seriously.
Here's my Gritty Realism Batman story: Batman drives up to the scene of the Riddler's bank robbery and jumps in expecting a fistfight but is immediately ripped to shreds by multiple gunshot wounds from automatic weapons. He is pronounced dead at the scene and unmasked and everyone says, "Wow, Bruce Wayne was an idiot."
100% awesome. So glad the rights issues were worked out. I have a high-quality bootleg I've been watching since '09, taped straight from CBS' vaults, but I will buy this especially if it comes with extra stuff. I kind of figured it must be in the pipeline when there were suddenly Batman '66 toys and comics available last year. Just got, via Amazon, a new collection of stories that the TV show drew from. Great stuff! The only real Batman is Adam West.
ReplyDeleteGiven the demand it's likely to be priced quite high at first so they can extract the maximum from those of us eager after literally decades waiting for this. I'll have to wait and see, despite knowing that eventually I will get it. My Superman, Flash, and Wonder Woman DVDs look now incomplete.
ReplyDeleteRip Off
Good news, I suppose, but I agree with Rip, in that I think the price will probably be exorbitant. I know I'll probably wait until used copies start appearing on places like eBay or the Amazon marketplace.
ReplyDeleteI'm doing the Snoopy dance of delight at the news, and there's only one response I can give:
ReplyDeleteWHAM! POW! BIFF!
Egg-cellent!!! Egg-actly what I've been egg-pecting!!! This would make an egg-cellent Presidents Day gift.
ReplyDeleteThe Prowler (you know).
Wow and wow.. I knew the momentum was favoring an upcoming release, but this is cherished news.
ReplyDeleteLike Matt, I too have a 6-7 disk 'reasonably' hi-qual copy someone done off TVLand or something.
Like Matt, 'the only REAL Batman IS Adam West'.
It will be great to finally see uncut and perhaps re-digitized video, unlike LIS and Monkees, which were pretty much uncleaned, standard-quality prints you see ran on television.
Adam West's commentary: He did it for all the episodes a few years ago as a separate release. It would be awesome to be sittin' on the couch with both Burt and Adam (perhaps Yvonne) giving nice background commentary.
High price..? Well, you did have the Land of the Giants 'limited edition' set which even used is STILL over a hundred bucks on Amazon.
Y'know what..? Even an high priced edition will still go fast.
Now to see if they'll release it in a 1:6 scale Batmobile package (for my Captain Action figures..).
C'mon everyone...: BAT-DANCE for King Tut..!!
Sorry, did I mention 'Adam West is the ONLY real Batman'..?
I'd love to see the '66 Batman put the WHAM! POW! BIFF! on the "goddamn" Batman.
ReplyDeleteTom
Hmmm, aside from the honorable Mr. West, I'd like THE '66 Catwoman to put the kabosh on ol' Anne Hathaway, Halle Berry and Michelle Pfeiffer.
ReplyDeleteMs. Julie Newmar, everyone.
GAWD, seriously, wouldn't it BE A HOOT to have her commentary..??
'Oh, those curious stirrings under my utility belt.'
Good call david_b. What would a Batman '66 post be without mentioning Julie Newmar? Too bad she wasn't able to be in the movie. Still in all, give me Newmar/Meriwether/Kitt over Hathaway/Berry/Pfeiffer any day.
ReplyDeleteTom
Sorry, man, not even Kitt or Meriwether come close. Julie Newmar is THE Cat Woman, in a class all by herself.
ReplyDeleteCesar Romero is the Joker. Ledger was a good actor but I don't know what that character was--certainly wasn't the Joker.
ReplyDeleteFrank Gorshin is the Riddler. Jim Carrey--please.
Burgess Meredith is the Penguin. Copy and paste notes about Joker and sub Devito for Ledger and Penguin for Joker.
Sounds like kudos all around to '66 Batman and the entire cast. So what do you guys say to people who say that the campiness of the show set superhero comics back a generation or more from being taken seriously (or if not comics as a whole, then the Batman character and his comics)?
ReplyDeleteTom
I agree they had the best Penguin, Riddler, and Catwoman. I liked both Julie Newmar and Lee Meriwether.
ReplyDeleteTom, I would say folks really don't understand the '66 Bat-craze and it's overwhelming effect on the industry, mostly good.
ReplyDelete1) A lot of folks struggled with the seemingly 'audacious' nature of how Batman went campy.. If you view the entire television series as a comedy/adventure show using 'the concept' of Batman for it's own use, it comes across much better, and the serious comic collectors don't view it as bad when it's looked at in that light, like it supposed to be canon or something. It's like, 'We need a superhero to model the concept from, let's use Batman.'
2) Set Batman comics back..? Back from what..? Batmite, Bathound, outer-space Batman..? I'd ask 'How was Batman taken seriously then..?' And it was nearly cancelled by DC, or so the legend goes..?
3) The explosive re-emergence of interest in comics brought in some major players who wouldn't have been interested in comics otherwise, such as Steranko and Adams..
4) I'd like to think those folks who lament it wasn't taken seriously probably weren't paying attention to the kids on playgrounds across the country who gave up playing cowboys and spacemen, and donning big towels as capes.
Why should super heroes be taken seriously? They're inherently goofy. I think people who don't like Batman '66 are upset because it pokes fun at how ludicrous super heroes are. For me, much of the problem with modern comics is how seriously they take what is a silly thing in itself. I love super hero comics but I know they aren't really meant to be for grown-ups to take seriously.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, try as I might, I couldn't have said it better, Matt.
ReplyDeleteTake that, Frank Miller and all his 'Gritty-Realism Batman' shtick.
Here's my Gritty Realism Batman story: Batman drives up to the scene of the Riddler's bank robbery and jumps in expecting a fistfight but is immediately ripped to shreds by multiple gunshot wounds from automatic weapons. He is pronounced dead at the scene and unmasked and everyone says, "Wow, Bruce Wayne was an idiot."
ReplyDelete