The lost serials thread...

Post by **eddievalient** » July 29th, 2008, 1:43 am

If true, this is great news. While I prefer the darker Batman, I like the campy version too because, like it or not, the comics really were that silly back then (Bat-Mite, anyone?) so they were only adding a little more humor to something that had already become something of a joke. Fingers crossed, indeed.

Post by **Whippet Angel** » July 29th, 2008, 2:00 pm

About friggin' time!!

Post by **walt1928** » July 29th, 2008, 10:55 pm

Freom Digital Bits

Unfortunately, we have another little bit of bad news for you. It seems the Comic-Con rumors of the 1960s Batman TV series finally coming to DVD are untrue. The rumor was based on an Adam West comment in AgentDVD magazine, indicating that he was working on special features for a Batman DVD. Turns out, he was working on HIS OWN DOCUMENTARY DVD about his time on the series, tentatively called Adam West: The Batman Dairies. Naturally, word got around, the buzz spread fast and the story got all out of control. Our friends Dave an Gord over at TVShowsonDVD have a full update today. The sad fact is, Warner still owns the license to the Batman franchise, Fox still owns the actual series and neither seems in the mood to compromise on making a deal to release it on DVD. It's almost enough to make frustrated fans go buy a bootleg DVD version of the series - and they DO exist. I saw them on sale down at the Con just this past weekend. Hey, I guess Fox and Warner are just happy to leave money on the table over this show.

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » July 29th, 2008, 11:54 pm

Unfortunately,

What Walt said is true.

Digital Bits got ahead of itself and posted something said at Comic Con that didn't pan out.

The basics still hold, though -- WB DOES own Batman (the character) but it was Fox that produced the live-action TV series and Fox that owns the TV footage. So far, Fox has only released the '66 Batman theatrical feature on home video. It's the same thing that happened with Popeye -- King Features owned the character but WB acquired the theatrical films from Paramount. In the Popeye case, a deal was worked out and the films eventually got released.

It'll take the wisdom of Solomon and common sense to prevail before the '66 Batman gets released.

Post by **Whippet Angel** » July 30th, 2008, 12:08 am

Bummer....

Hopefully they'll settle this dispute sometime in the near future. There's been a demand for this for quite a while. It'll only grow bigger thanks to the success of the new Batman franchise.

Post by **Ben** » August 3rd, 2008, 5:04 pm

I don't get how the '66 feature can be put out though, as surely the same rules apply.

The answer is simple: both companies put out a season each!

Darn...it's too late to start taping the really nicely restored prints they're running on the BBC here in the UK...the full two year run every Tuesday and Thursday!

Post by **Randall** » August 3rd, 2008, 5:47 pm

Actually, it was 3 seasons long, with extra-long seasons for the first two, as it was airing twice a week for a while.

Darn, those bootlegs are getting tempting...!!! I really love that show.

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » September 22nd, 2008, 5:40 pm

More developments in our Continuing Bat-Saga!

From "Who Watches the Batman DVDs"

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page ... e&id=18162

*****************

Those most villainous of villainous dastardly deed-doers of Doer'dom, aka Lawyers, are holding Warner Bros.' "Watchmen" feature film hostage until the red tape can get untangled from this treacherously twisted spider's® web®!

Could the Twelfth-Hour Dynamos of 20th Century Fox's most Fearless Legal Legion actually be concocting a diabolical deed designed to free Adam "I Am Batman" West's 1960s Batman series from the dusty dins of the saltmines where it lies in wait?

Stay Tuned to this Bat website, Teen Wonders and Not-So-Teen Wonders! This case ain't over yet until the last bit of Bat Guano has been picked up!

® Registered trademark and solely owned by Marvel Characters and Marvel Entertainment.

Post by **Ben** » September 22nd, 2008, 6:51 pm

Funny...at the recent HTF chat, the WB guys kept saying - more than once - that Fox owns the right to release the 60s Batman shows, which makes sense since they made them.

So why can't they be put out? Because WB says they own the character rights? Well home come the 1966 movie could come out on DVD and Blu, and Sony could put out their two Columbia serials?

Something's screwy here...

Post by **Randall** » September 22nd, 2008, 9:15 pm

Past indications are that the producers' families are involved in the rights dispute over the TV series. I don't think anything has to do with Warner or DC Comics. Otherwise, as Ben said, how could the other Bat-releases have gone ahead?

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » September 22nd, 2008, 11:44 pm

Frankly,

I was surprised Sony issued the first Batman serial on DVD without editing it. Since it was a World War II production, it has anti-Japanese propaganda and a stereotypical Japanese supervillain played by a Caucasian actor. Very, very strange that the American arm of a Japanese company (Sony = Columbia Pictures = TriStar) put this out.

I kind of wonder if WB let Sony release the serial just to avoid embarassment by it and because of the fact that many people (at any rate) consider the Superman serials superior (which WB does own now in spite of being originally produced by Columbia Pictures).

That said, WB also doesn't own "The Adventures of Captain Marvel." (WB also owns the rights to the original Captain Marvel character.) That was put out on DVD by Republic Pictures (owned at the time by Aaron Spelling) which is now owned by Paramount.

Post by **Ben** » September 23rd, 2008, 8:31 am

I was glad the Batman serials got out intact - they're fun! And I think the packaging made clear these were old style and nothing that kids would really want to sit down to, even though they were made for them back in the day.

Still don't see the problems with the 1960s show - even with the families' squabbles, how come the feature remains in circulation?

There's obviously something holding these up, but they'll come eventually. Shame the current UK airing has a BBC FOUR logo on the top left - the prints are stunning and surely the result of some major clean-up work that should be better appreciated on DVD, or Blu-ray...

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » September 23rd, 2008, 10:03 am

I've seen half of the first Batman serial -- and it's goofy!

Those floppy ears, the cheap sets, all the changes(!)... Granted, it's not Captain America (1944) bad, but Captain Marvel (1940) and Superman (1948) both beat Batman by a long shot!

I'm well aware that the serial occurs early in Batman canon -- I've read tons of the older Batman comics and 3-4 histories of the character --, but it's still goofy.

Seriously, the West TV series isn't half-bad. It's aged considerably better than most of the Batman features have so far... (and my hatred of those live-action films is well-documented.)

I'll be first in line to buy season sets of the 1960s live-action TV Batman when it gets released on home video. It's only a matter of time. There's too much pressure and anticipation for it not to happen.

*************

I've often wondered how a Golden Age of Animation Batman animated theatrical short series might have been pulled off. It probably would have looked like the Year Two (1940) Batman character designs that were adopted shortly after Jerry Robinson and George Roussos joined the comic book art team. Might have ended up too juvenile for most people today. Batman lightened up considerably after Robin was added to the comics in 1940.

Post by **Daniel** » September 23rd, 2008, 2:02 pm

Here's a very good article on what exactly is holding up the program. Long read, but interesting! I, like you guys, want the show too.

Post by **Ben** » September 23rd, 2008, 5:45 pm

Very "nice" supposition, which I'd take somewhat as being close to what's really going on. However, I'm not sure I'm buying all the reasons for the delays.

It'll happen at some point, but as Rand says, some of those "other sets" look mighty tempting, and I just wish I'd caught the current BBC4 run earlier.