The Saturday Report – Going Batty

Archive

Non-TV related stuff
Well apparently X-23 and a new creative team are on board New X-Men: Academy X with issue 20. So I guess I can add another title to my “drop” list.

Somewhat TV-related stuff
The Weekly Pulse is back, with IP Movies Guy Brendan Campbell at the helm. He gives you the digest version on the week that was, and talks about other stuff like beavers and immigrants from Mypos.

And yes, I’ll continue to use my upcoming wedding as an excuse for lateness.

Quick Hits
I wanted to comment about this last week, but it slipped my mind. Why the hell is Dave Moffatt one of the final 32 on Canadian Idol? Sure, he’s not a bad singer, but it’s not as if he’s a complete unknown. Like them or hate them, I’d think that many Canadians have in fact heard of The Moffatts – Canada’s answer to Hanson, for you non-Hosers out there.

Speaking of Canadian Idol, what’s going to happen with that kid Darryl when his voice breaks?

Showing the amazing originality we expect from them, Fox has apparently greenlit a show called Skating With Celebrities, where D-List celebs (like, say, DB Sweeney and Moira Kelly) will do some pairs dancing. Basically, it’s like Dancing With The Stars, except you’ve got a greater likelihood of seeing people fall on their ass.

“Don’t interupt! I’m trying to fathom the subconscious of a deadly criminal!”
On Wednesday, Batman Begins was released in movie theatres. Brendan and the movies crew rank the movie Batmen, and Robert Sutton not only reviews the new movie, but he looks back at Batman: The Movie. And in the spirit of all things batty, I’ve decided to take a quick look back at Batman through television history.

In the 60’s we were introduced to a kinder, gentler, cheesier Batman. Adam West played the role as a stoic, civil-minded superhero. I suppose that in the 60’s, camp was in, so you really can’t blame the producers for dialing the camp to 11. And Adam West’s deliberately stiff performances helped to keep it there.

And that’s it for the live action Batmen. It’s all animated from here. Unless you count the 2 second shot of Batman from the short-lived Birds of Prey series, that is. Yeah, it’s best not to think about that one.

In 1968 Filmation gave us a 34 episode run of Batman (with Robin the Boy Wonder) in 6-12 minute shorts. This was probably more notable for debuting Casey Kasem as the voice of Robin than anything else. Batman was voiced by Olan Soulé, who reprised the part in the Superfriends series (two “seasons” of which were lovingly (?) reviewed by Scott Keith – one “featuring” the Wonder Twins and the other featuring some token minority characters). Anyways, given the running time of the shorts, there was no real time for characterization, so we mostly got a lot of action.

Superfriends, however, gave us… well actually it didn’t really give us much either in the way of characterization. Again, I urge you to read Scott’s reviews to see exactly how well Batman came off. Lots of nonsensical plots, and the LOD stealing Darth Vader’s helmet to use as a base.

Interestingly, in 1977, Filmation gave it another go with The New Adventures of Batman, this time with Adam West and Burt Ward as the voices of Batman and Robin, respectively. Why is that interesting? Well, because Superfriends was still on – and would continue to run until around 1986. Anyways, this is not considered to be a very good series (don’t remember much about it myself), but West gave at a good go as the Caped Crusader.

And then in 1992 came Batman: The Animated Series. Despite the Bat-shark repellants, nipple suits and the presence of Wendy and Marvin in other versions of Batman, this series has come to be considered the “definitive” version of Batman. Maybe it’s because of the dark nature of the series, or maybe it’s because Kevin Conroy turns in a stellar performance, but this Dark Knight is dark, calculating, and a man of very few words.

The next series, Batman Beyond, drastically changed Batman as teenager Terry McGinnis became the Caped Crusader, with 80-year old Bruce Wayne as his mentor. So now instead of a dark, loner crusader, we had a Batman who had a bit of Spider-Man in him as well. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not the “true” Batman, either.

From the future to the present, as Justice League portrayed Batman as the loner who’s uncomfortable being a part of a team, and somewhat distrustful of his teammates (outside of Diana), seeing as he’s the only “normal” person of the seven. And you know what? It’s almost perfect, and fairly accurate to the Batman we see in the JLA comic.

So, will Christopher Nolan’s Batman resemble one of these TV Batmans? There’s only one way to find out!!

Research credits:
Scott Tipton at Movie Poop Shoot
The Big Cartoon Database
TV Tome
And of course Inside Pulse’s own Scott Keith

Kevin has been an Insider since 2003, writing on a variety of topics ranging from The Amazing Race to Mixed Martial Arts. His current hobbies include Fantasy Football, Sporcle, travelling, making liberal use of his DVR and wondering what the heck he's gonna do when his two daughters are old enough to date. You can follow Kevin on Twitter (@starvenger).