To The Batpoles! Batman 1966
by Tim and Paul
Like many who grew up in the '60s and '70s (and perhaps even '80s and later), Tim and Paul had the course of their lives changed by the 1966 Batman TV show, from the types of play they did growing up to their present-day interests. In this series, they discuss the show's allure and its failures, the arc of the show from satire to sitcom, its influences (the '40s serials and the comic books themselves) and the things it, in turn, influenced.SUPPORT "To the Batpoles!" and DeconstructingComics.com via Patreon!
Episodes
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BAT BITS #45 NOW LIVE on Patreon: Minstrel Script pt 3: That Nice Young Man
On the latest Bat Bits, we conclude our look at the first draft script for "The Minstrel's Shakedown", which gives us catering staff in confederate military uniforms! We figure out why they were there, and it's pretty clear why they didn't make the final. Plus the Gilbert and Sullivan song…
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BAT BITS #44 NOW LIVE on Patreon: "Minstrel" Script pt 2: The Minstrel's Microwave
More discoveries about the first draft of "The Minstrel's Shakedown" on the latest Bat Bits. There's no barbecue spit; the death trap is a completely different method of cooking the Dynamic Duo! The incomprehensible scene that was added to fill in for all the superfluous bits that were cut! And...
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BAT BITS #43 NOW LIVE on Patreon: "The Minstrel's Shakedown" script pt 1: A Creative Spark
This time we begin a look at the first draft script for "The Minstrel's Shakedown" from season 2. We discovered a hidden cameo in this episode — no, not Phyllis Diller, but we also see how her scene was originally written when it wasn't a celebrity cameo. Also, we discover who was second choice…
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BAT BITS #42 NOW LIVE on Patreon: "Starring Adam West": How do we think of Adam?
Starring Adam West is a documentary film from 2013. It gives us the story of his life and career, including his career comeback and the fight (by his daughter and a DJ) to get him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. We have thoughts on the film, and also thoughts brought about by the film…
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BAT BITS #41 NOW LIVE on Patreon: "Doom-Trap": The Charles Hoffman Treatment
While we had previously thought there was no existing early version of Lorenzo Semple's script for "Zelda the Great"/"A Death Worse than Fate", an alert listener has sent us a… well, related treatment. It's by Charles Hoffman and is based on "Batman's Inescapable Doom-Trap" from Detective Comics...
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BAT BITS #40 (FREE) Mark Racop talks Fiberglass Freaks Batman Museum!
This time we present an interview with Mark Racop, founder of Fiberglass Freaks in Logansport, Indiana, the world's only licensed creators of accurate 1966 Batmobiles! He has also created the Fiberglass Freaks Batman Museum, a repository of Bat-pop culture, with lovingly recreated sets from the...
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BAT BITS #39 NOW LIVE on Patreon: "Blankman" and Batman '66
Blankman is a 1994 movie about two brothers who grow up loving BATMAN '66. We know the feeling. When they grow up, circumstances lead the nerdier brother to style himself as a superhero. It's a comedy — sometimes. The tone of the movie veers too dark in spots to keep it feeling comedic. Is it a...
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BAT BITS #38 NOW LIVE on Patreon: "The Ring of Wax" script, pt 3
On the latest Bat Bits, we finish our look at the draft of "The Ring of Wax" by Jack Paritz and Bob Rodgers, featuring a nonexistent fountain, a gun that doesn't make it to the final, the return of a familiar building, and more! Subscribe to our Patreon for $2 a month to see the script and hear…
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BAT BITS #37 NOW LIVE on Patreon: "The Ring of Wax" script, pt 2
On the latest Bat Bits, we continue walking through the draft of "The Ring of Wax"/"Give 'Em the Axe" by Jack Paritz and Bob Rodgers, featuring the final mention of the Batmobile's security system, a significant change following the deathtrap, a swap of one antifeminist comment for another, and...
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BAT BITS #36 NOW LIVE on Patreon: "The Ring of Wax" script pt 1
It's been quite a while since we've taken a look at "The Ring of Wax"/"Give 'em the Axe", but it's finally this arc's turn for an examination of its first completed draft script. How well did Jack Paritz and Bob Rodgers do at sticking to Semplian ideas of Batman? Where did they not go into enough...
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BAT BITS #35 NOW LIVE: Women in Season Three: Olga, Batgirl, and Male Chauvinists
Here is an audio promo of our latest episode! Nancy Northcott joins us once again to discuss women on Batman. This time, we're focusing on the Egghead/Olga team-up episodes. Are they as full of sexism as we'd expected from a 1967 TV show? What do we make of the leggy babe technician at the Radium...
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BAT BITS #34 (FREE EPISODE): Walla Walla Celebrates Adam West!
It goes without saying that Batman '66 wouldn't be Batman '66 without Adam West. Never mind Keaton and the others; Adam's our Batman! Adam's hometown of Walla Walla, Washington, celebrates Adam's legacy on and around his birthday of September 19, dubbed "Adam West Day". In this e pisode, Brian...
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BAT BITS #33: Why such a long recap for "Joker Goes to School"? NOW LIVE ON PATREON!
Recently on BAT BITS we talked about what went into writing the recap we see at the start of part two of many Batman episodes. Then we noticed that the recap of "The Joker Goes to School" is considerably longer than any other Season One recap. This time, we look for clues as to why this recap…
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BAT BITS #32 NOW LIVE on Patreon: "Battyman" parody in CRACKED
In their years of podcasting about Batman 66, Tim and Paul have covered a number of parodies and ripoffs of the show, from MAD magazine to Batfink. But a listener has informed them of another one, b from the March 1988 issue of Cracked magazine. Even more than a year out from the 1st Michael…
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BAT BITS #31 NOW LIVE on Patreon: REVIEW: "Batman Meets Godzilla" #3
Eric Elliot's labor-of-love project to convert the 1960s treatment for the unmade film Batman Meets Godzilla into a comic has finally been completed! Eric scripts and a squad of 10 artists handle the artwork. So how does it look? On the latest Bat Bits, we review issue 3. Listen to Bat Bits by...
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BAT BITS #30 NOW LIVE:: Women in S3, pt 2: Cringe
At last, we're again joined by novelist Nancy Northcott to discuss the portrayal of women in Batman 66! We pick up near the start of Season Three, with the episodes "The Unkindest Tut of All" and "Louie, the Lilac." Can Tim, Paul, and Nancy survive S3? Have any three people used the word "cringe"...
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BAT BITS #29 NOW LIVE: Rewriting Recaps
As Tim and Paul have examined first draft Batman scripts, it's become clear that the draft recaps of part one that you hear at the start of part two are often completely rewritten for the final. But why did this rewriting take place? What were the goals of the recaps that Lorenzo Semple and co....
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BAT BITS #28 NOW LIVE on Patreon: "A Riddle a Day" script pt 4
This time, we conclude our discussion of the draft script for the show's second Riddler story, "A Riddle A Day Keeps the Riddler Away", featuring a VERY different, and surprisingly lethal, climactic scene at the Queen of Freedom Monument! We also see an instance of writer Fred DeGorter not quite...
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BAT BITS #27 NOW LIVE: "A Riddle a Day" script pt 3
This time, we continue our discussion of the draft script for the show's second Riddler story, "A Riddle A Day Keeps the Riddler Away", picking up with the Dynamic Duo's escape from Riddler's spinning deathtrap! Who impersonates Batman, and why does the script try to hide that info? Why did…
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BAT BITS #26 NOW LIVE: "A Riddle a Day" script pt 2
This time, we continue our discussion of the draft script for the show's second Riddler story, "A Riddle A Day Keeps the Riddler Away"! We touch on how Fred DeGorter wrote the Riddler vs how the lines were re-written, Robin inadvertently insulting Batman, and more, including a certain…
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BAT BITS #25 NOW LIVE on Patreon: "A Riddle a Day" script pt 1
This time we begin a new series on the draft script for the show's second Riddler story, "A Riddle A Day Keeps the Riddler Away"! We cover everything from rearranged scenes to a missing answer to a riddle, as well as some obvious cost cutting! Listen to Bat Bits and see the scropt we're…
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#222 Semple's Batnotes: Seven Surprising Points
We're back with a one-off episode to share several exciting pieces of news! First, Lorenzo Semple's Batnotes memo (also known as "Bat Poop"), sent to prospective Batman writers, outlines Semple's concept of the show. It was thought by many to be lost, but now it has resurfaced! This time we share...
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BAT BITS #24 NOW LIVE on Patreon: Advice to Bat-writers in 1965, pt 5
This time we wrap up our discussion of Lorenzo Semple Jr's BATNOTES memo for prospective BATMAN 66 writers. These last few pages of the memo cover the show's running characters, including a surprising early take on Aunt Harriet, as well as the now-familiar format of the show and the question of...
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BAT BITS #23 NOW LIVE on Patreon: Advice to Bat-writers in 1965, pt 3
On the latest Bat Bits, we discuss Lorenzo Semple Jr's guidelines regarding Batman's arsenel: The Batmobile, the Batcave, and all his various devices. We discuss reasons to label everything in the Batcave and Batman's general resourcefulness. Whatever he needs is always there when he needs it!...
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BAT BITS #22 NOW LIVE on Patreon: Advice to Bat-writers in 1965, pt 3
Why Batman doesn't carry a gun, and focuses on reforming crooks. How to write Bruce Wayne (square, not stupid!) Keeping the camp incidental to the show; he only goes to the disco because that's where his crime investigation leads him. Our discussion of Lorenzo Semple's 14-page "Batnotes" memo...
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BAT BITS #21 NOW LIVE on Patreon: Advice to Bat-writers in 1965, pt 2
Lorenzo Semple's 14-page "Batnotes" memo to prospective Bat-writers lays out the basic things he wanted a writer to understand before attempting a Batman script. In our second episode digging into this memo, we discuss how the villian's real goal often isn't revealed until the end, some…
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BAT BITS #20 NOW LIVE on Patreon: Advice to Bat-writers in 1965, pt 1
We had heard before that it existed, and we've finally found it: Lorenzo Semple's 14-page "Batnotes" memo to prospective Bat-writers about "a few simple rules and concepts" about what should or should not happen in a Batman script. Tim and Paul want to dig through this carefully, so in this…
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BAT BITS #19 NOW LIVE on Patreon: TV GUIDE's take on Yvonne
In 1967, Yvonne Craig was added to the Batman cast as Batgirl, in an effort to boost the ratings. It wouldn't fly today, but Batman's producers and the media were pretty up-front, and a bit crude, about the effort to add sex appeal to keep the show afloat. This time on BAT BITS, we discuss a TV...
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BAT BITS #18 NOW LIVE on Patreon: Semple sets the Bat-template
Lorenzo Semple, Jr., is the writer entrusted by producer William Dozier with getting the writing side of Batman off the ground. This time, we take a look at a letter from Semple to Dozier, in which he discusses his plans for the script of "Zelda the Great", a template for Bat-scripts, concerns...
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BAT BITS #17 NOW LIVE on Patreon: "Fine Finny Fiends" final script pt 2: In tune on the Neptune
On the latest BAT BITS, we conclude our examination of Sheldon Stark's final script for Fine Finny Fiends, including a scene setting relocated for lack of the right set, what Finella was supposed to be wearing in the final scene, the shifting explanations of who knows where the banquet will be...
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BAT BITS #16 NOW LIVE on Patreon: "Fine Finny Fiends" final script pt 1: Something Fishy
On the latest Bat Bits, we begin an examination of Sheldon Stark's final script for Fine Finny Fiends. Somewhat inexplicably, this arc's theme is fish rather than birds. Maybe because penguins eat fish? Tim and Paul find some additional fish references that got cut, and some of them with good...
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BAT BITS #15 now LIVE on Patreon: Letters from Bruce Lee
On the latest Bat Bits, we wander out into the wider Dozierverse to look at the correspondence between William Dozier, producer of Batman and The Green Hornet, and Bruce Lee, whom Dozier tried several times to find a vehicle for before landing on the role of Kato. We get some of Bruce's feelings...
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BAT BITS #14 NOW LIVE on Patreon: Bookworm final script: The Bullets Don't Fly
While Rik Vollaerts' early draft of The Bookworm Turns was very different from what was broadcast, surely the final script is exactly what we saw? But no, that's never true; some changes always occur at the hands of the director, and perhaps the actors. A significant scene (and significant...
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BAT BITS #13 NOW LIVE on Patreon: Bookworm script pt 4: Why was fake Gordon fake-shot?
A lingering question from the Bookworm arc of Batman, as broadcast, is: Why was a Commissioner Gordon impersonator seemingly shot at the opening of the bridge? As we conclude our look at the draft version of the script, we finally get an answer! Listen to Bat Bits and follow along with a PDF of…
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BAT BITS #12 NOW LIVE on PATREON: Bookworm Script pt 3: Bat-Magnetism
On the latest episode of Bat Bits, Paul and I move into the second half of the early draft of Rik Vollaerts' script "The Bookworm Turns"! We can see the vague outlines of this script in the broadcast version, including the use of the Bat Magnet! But does it make sense for Bookworm to steal...
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BAT BITS #11 NOW LIVE on Patreon: Bookworm script part 2 - how NOT to write a deathtrap
Now live on Patreon - part two of our look at the draft Bookworm script, featuring an overlong, over-complicated deathtrap scene! Join us on Patreon to hear our discussion and follow along with the script!
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BAT BITS #10 NOW LIVE on Patreon: The EARLY Bookworm script, part one!
On the latest Bat Bits, we begin a multi-part look at an early draft of The Bookworm Turns! It contains some concepts seen in the broadcast version that may ring a bell, but there's no Big Benjamin bell in this script! Join us on Patreon to hear about Rik Vollearts' early shot at Bookworm and...
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BAT BITS #09 NOW LIVE on Patreon: Begorra! Mercy Alive! We got AMAZING YouTube comments!
At last, we're back! This time we talk about a couple fantastic YouTube comments we received from people with close connections to two Bat-regulars, Stafford Repp and Madge Blake! Join us on Patreon for $2 a month to hear their revelations!
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#221 "The Joker Trumps an Ace" scripts: How Joker got deflated
We're back for a look at the first two draft scripts for The Joker Trumps an Ace/Batman Sets the Pace. As usual, scripts bring to light connections that the filmed episode didn't quite make, lines we never heard clearly, abandoned bat-turns and wardrobe business, an absent moll, and much more....
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BAT BITS #08 now LIVE on Patreon: What does BATMAN '66 #12 tell us about the TV show?
For our final BAT BITS of the year, we return, after a two-year hiatus, to the BATMAN '66 comics series, digging into issue 12. It's certainly not the greatest issue of the series, but in its faults, it helps us identify aspects of how the TV show works. Listen for a clip from the show!
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#220 "The New Adventures of Batman" (1977): The one with Adam, Burt, and…. BAT MITE! W/J. B. Anderton!
The New Adventures of Batman, Filmation's second Batman cartoon series, premiered February 12, 1977 on CBS. Tim and Paul, then 11 and 8 respectively, were thrilled at the idea of Adam West and Burt Ward voicing the Duo, but not so thrilled at the addition of Bat Mite to the cast. But… were we…
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BAT BITS #07 now LIVE on Patreon: How to make a "Holy" pt 2
Holy continuation! In the latest edition of Bat Bits, we attempt to come up with some guidelines for what makes a good "holy". Also: Just because a holy was used on Batman 66, does that make it a "good" one? Join us on Patron for at least $2 a month to hear Bat Bits, as well as ad-free versions…
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BAT BITS #06 now LIVE on Patreon: How to make a "Holy" pt 1
Holy exclamation! On Batman 66, Robin used a lot of Holys. We have a sense of what formulations of holys work best, but can we put those formulations into words? Why do some holys from other sources, such as the 1966 album Jan and Dean meet Batman make us say "holy wrong note"? In this first...
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BAT BITS #05 now LIVE on Patreon! "The 'Batman' Movie Premiere"
JOIN US ON PATREON to hear BAT BITS, morsels we find as we research the show for our book! Why was the world premiere of Batman, the Movie held in Austin, Texas? And just what went on at (and around) this July 30, 1966, event? This time, a deep dive on the movie premiere!
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Bat Bits #04 now LIVE on Patreon: "Batman comics suck, but the TV show is WORSE!"
On the latest BAT BITS podcast, we discuss another anti-Batman article from 1966! Is it possible to hate Batman comics, but think they're great compared to the TV show??
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BAT BITS #03 now LIVE on Patreon! Batman: Inspirational for kids, or anti-police indoctrination??
A 1966 article by journalist Paul Molloy takes down NY Congressman Frank Horton for praising "Batman" for its heroes' "heroic power for good", saying it was inspirational and a good message for kids. Molloy, on the other hand, sees the GCPD's reliance on Batman as a swipe at all police. Do either...
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BAT BITS #02 now LIVE on Patreon: Wondering where the tigers are?
Famously, Burt Ward has said that, in the episode BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME, he was placed above a pit of tigers, with meat hanging above him that encouraged the tigers to jump. Meanwhile, in THE OFFICIAL BATMAN BATBOOK, Joel Eisner says there were no live tigers, just a clip from an old movie. Who's...
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BAT BITS #01 now LIVE on Patreon!
The first episode of our book-writing-hiatus Patreon podcast is now live! We discuss memos among the Greenway and Fox teams about Adam West's chronic lateness on the set, and answer the question: How is Bill Clinton separated by three degrees from Batman '66?? Support us for two dollars a month…
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#219 Who was Stafford Repp?
All the supporting players on Batman had many years of acting experience — considerably more than the stars of the show did! That also goes for Stafford Repp, playing stereotypical Irish cop Chief O'Hara. But what was his background? When did he get into acting? What are some of his other roles,...
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Schedule Note
Sorry! We're going to have to delay the next episode by a week or two.
About this show
Like many who grew up in the '60s and '70s (and perhaps even '80s and later), Tim and Paul had the course of their lives changed by the 1966 Batman TV show, from the types of play they did growing up to their present-day interests. In this series, they discuss the show's allure and its failures, the arc of the show from satire to sitcom, its influences (the '40s serials and the comic books themselves) and the things it, in turn, influenced.SUPPORT "To the Batpoles!" and DeconstructingComics.com via Patreon!
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Tim and Paul