News has spread that Warner Bros. and Fox have come to terms for a licensing deal on the 1966 Batman TV show, the one which featured Adam West.
So will the series be coming to DVD? According to the report, the deal is only for items like t-shirts and stuff. No DVDs, at least not yet. But that doesn’t mean that there won’t be any DVDs at all.
There is a big bump in the road though. Because the show had so many guest stars and cameos that there will be probably be legal trouble looming. If that wasn’t a big enough problem, believe it or not the Batmobile on the show actually has its own set of rights. Mind-boggling. And there is a whole other bunch of legal battles that would probably come about between other departments on the series.
There is hope though. Rumor is around that Adam West and Burt Ward have recorded commentary for the episodes.
Comics Alliance has definitely put this problem in perspective. We’ve been through two different Batman movie series’ since the show aired.
The move was made to balance out the dark Christopher Nolan trilogy. Comic fiends, at least they’re headed in the right direction.
Do you want the show on DVD?
Source: Comics Alliance
photo: popculturegeek
It would be nice to see this show on DVD. One of the problems (besides the disputed rights between WB and 20th CF) was that Warner Brothers didn’t want to risk confusing fans by having a more comical form of the character out there along with the recent darker and more sinister Batman. (Christian Bale)
I always wondered what the problem was. Look how many movies of Scrooge have been made. We had comical versions such as when Fred Flintstone portrayed him. Rich Little made a spoof of it. We had the musical “Stingiest Man In Town.” We had the tragic and more sympathetic Michael Caine.” And there were many others.
People were simply free to choose the version of the story they wanted.
Also, where Batman is concerned, we have had Adam West’s Batman which alternated between dark and comical moments; we had Michael Keaton who was a little more serious; we had Val Kilmer who made him more tragic; we had the dark and sinister animated Kevin Conroy; and we have the recent Christian Bale films that make him more dark than ever before.
True, I liked “The Dark Knight.” But that didn’t stop me from enjoying the more comical Adam West episodes.
And the truth is some of the Adam West episodes were surprisingly chilling and serious. A perfect example was “The Joker Is Wild.” The Joker fought surprisingly well, and Batman took some bad hits. And as if that weren’t enough, the Joker made his own utility belt. This really gave Batman some trouble. And the Joker came really close to unmasking Batman in that episode. One of the best lines in that episode was when Batman ordered the Joker to surrender, and in an almost demonic voice, he hissed: “As the clown prince of crime, I decline.”
I could go on and on, but the bottom line is that while I enjoyed the somber animated Kevin Conroy episodes and the dark Keaton and Bale films, I would like to see the old Adam West episodes released on DVD.