For the fourth week in a row, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight has dominated the movie box office. Like most people, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. As a matter of fact, I walked out of the theater thinking that this was probably the single best super hero movie adaptation ever.
However, I did have a brief moment as I watched the movie when I wished for something…lighter. Having stared straight into the face of insanity and destruction, I longed for a bit of Tim Burton’s whimsicality, or even Adam West’s campiness. The Batman films of the 80’s and 90’s are all widely available on DVD, but where is the television show of the late 60’s? We have Batman: The Movie from 1966 (which was re-released on Blu-ray last month), but not the infamous television series staring Adam West and Burt Ward as the caped crusaders.
Why haven’t the three seasons (1966-1968) of Batman been released yet? It all comes down to legal wrangling over various distribution rights between DC Comics, Fox and possibly Warner Brothers. Try as I might, I can’t seem to find a decent explanation for what the source of the problem is, or any indication that it will be resolved in the near future. If all of the legal fooforah surrounding the movie rights to The Hobbit can be resolved, why not this?
I want Julie Numar ,who will always be the definitive Catwoman in my book. I want Yvonne Craig as Batgirl, with her Bat-cycle. I want Vincent Price as Egghead. I want Victor Buono as King Tut. I want to tune in at the “same bat-time, same bat-channel.” God help me, I even want to see Adam West do the “Batusi” in its full screen glory, not just as a Youtube video.
Will we ever see this incarnation of Batman on DVD? I sincerely hope so. I can’t help but think that we need him, now more than ever. Until that happy day comes, I can console myself with this incredible site: http://www.bat-mania.co.uk/home.htm . I particularly love the complete list of every “holy” utterance from Robin.
No Comments, Comment or Ping
Reply to ““Holy missing DVD collection, Batman!””