Batman (Batman)

Member Name: jcpurpledragons

Product:	Batman
Date:	08/12/07 (59 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Action-packed camp capers

Disadvantages: Overzealous morals

Could this be the most diabolical bastardisation of the gothic Batman DC comic book character or is it to be treasured as a jewel encrusted time capsule of 1960s television?

Starring Adam West and Burt Ward as Batman and Robin respectively, Batman originally aired on ABC in America from January 12th, 1966, until March 14th 1968. With two Bat-tastic episodes each week 120 episodes were made in total, each filling a half hour slot. But being a baby of the 80s I grew up on its English teatime reruns, dreaming of a world in which I too could be a Caped Crusader.

The Batman series found a formula that worked, and rigidly stuck with it to its own eventual downfall from a bored and disengaged audience. Each week: a stock villain commits a crime; the baffled Police Commissioner Gordon (Neil Hamilton) and Chief O'Hara (Stafford Repp) are dumbfounded and call in Batman on the special red Batphone. Discarding their alter egos as Bruce Wayne, the millionaire philanthropist, and Dick Grayson, his ward, Batman and Robin descend the Batpoles behind the scholarly bookshelf arriving fully clad in ghastly lycra outfits in the Batcave where a whole array of Stat Trek quality computers flash authoritatively. They jump into the Batmobile (which I got to see up close and personal at the Warner Brothers Studios, L.A., as since 1976 they have owned the character through DC, although 20th Century Fox own the TV series) and it cuts to the super speed stock footage of the car zooming out of the Batcave towards Gotham City (as helpfully pointed out by the "Gotham City 14 miles" signpost located right outside).

The Dynamic Duo arrive at Police Headquarters and politely decline the assistance of the fumbling police and head off to defeat the criminal mastermind single-handedly. A fight between good and evil ensues and Batman and Robin are captured, facing almost certain death. The audience are left in terrifying suspense of whether they will survive and are forced to tune back in to the next episode the following night (they were originally shown at 7.30pm Wednesday and Thursday night), where the Dynamic Duo escape through unlikely means, defeat the bad guys, hand them over to the police (who conveniently always arrive too late to be of any use), and order is once again restored to a grateful Gotham City.

At its height the show was incredibly popular with an array of villain guest stars, most notably Frank Gorshin as the Riddler, Burgess Meredith as the Penguin, and Cesar Romero as the Joker. Other celebrities were also keen to get in the act as cameos that the Caped Crusaders would pass as they 'climbed' up a building exterior, including such faces as Bruce Lee and Ted Cassidy.

There was just something about this fast paced, overacted show that brought to life the camp comedy of 1950s and 60s comic books and captured audience's hearts. Whether it was how utterly unfetching the male leads look in tights, Robin's quality dumbfounded one-liners such as "holy ashtrays Batman", or Bruce/Batman's regular lectures on the safety importance of wearing seatbelts and such like, for a while this show ruled.

I'm not sure quite what it is that attracts me to this show as Bruce Wayne's zealous goodliness is overpowering and insultingly patronising, whilst Robin is downright annoying. However 1960s television is something of a guilty pleasure for me. I love the orchestrated narrow escapes from death that make the tactics of Mission Impossible seem feasible; and even in his campest form there is something strangely alluring about the masked bat crime fighter. I think what it really offers is complete escapism from reality into a world in which good truly can overcome evil completely through ingenious means- oh to be a 1960s super hero!

All in all its quick action sequences, interspersed with painfully explicit morals and educational messages, and jazzed up with some seriously psychedelic design elements result in a strangely addictive 1960s television trip (without the need for any of the questionable drugs that all involved must have surely been on).

So will you "tune in tomorrow, same bat-time, same bat-channel"?, as the pompous voice over of series producer William Dozier always instructs you to do at the end. Well I'm ashamed to say I will.

Summary: 1960s comic book time capsule