Batman - Holy Batmania

Rating:
Summary: MORE! MORE!
Review: A fun DVD to watch, but I was hoping for more footage of the bad guys. Contains 3 great documentaries...Cesar Romero, Adam West & Julie Newmar.

Rating:
Summary: Great research
Review: Kevin Burns has done excellent research work on the scifi fantasy shows on the sixties. His previous project has involved "The Fantastic Worlds of Irwin Allen," and now he turns his attention to the Bat-Craze of the sixties.

I have to confess that when I heard about this DVD, I thought I finally could get read of those "Holy Batmania" videos I purchased ten years ago, that had qreat deal of Bat "odds and ends" from over the year.

Burns calls in Bill Mumy to be the narrator for the Batmania special, and Mr. Mumy proves to be a great commentator for this documentary, and again Burn proves his that he knows his Batstuff.

While many wonderful extras are here. Including the screen tests for Adam West and Burt Ward, the alternate ones with Lyle Waggoner, the bumper bits for the Batmania wrap arounds in the late eighties (and all of this is great), I found myself noticing a few absentee spots such as the Batgirl Yvonne Craig ad for equal opportunity pay that was done in the early seventies, the ABC 1967 tv special, which had Adam West and Burt Ward discussing the new fall lineup, and the Yvonne Craig/Ambush Bug screen test,which shows up in the old videos.

Than it dawned on me, it seems that there's been a kabash on most of the Batgirl stuff, probably due to legal situations, we can only guess at.

Maybe there can be a Batmania 2 DVD, in a few years to come.

But as someone else pointed out, this DVD will have to do, until Fox and Warners can hammer out a deal to release the Adam West series out on DVD. And it is well done, with three other full length documentaries on Adam West, Cesar Romaro, and Julie Newmar. Who's left? Burt Ward

Hopefully, Mr. Burns (not the Ken one), can do research on some other sixties and seventies programs that haven't had their specials of documentaries yet. But, it's hard to beat the sixties for their pure campiness and fun. Mind you, this was before tv and pop culture turned dark in the eighties.

So go ahead and get this BatDVD, add it to your Batcollection, and remember back when the Caped Crusader was fun, fun, and more fun.

Sincerely,

JThree
[e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Good Documentary
Review: The main feature is really well produced and features interviews with all of the main cast and crew of the series. It goes right from the start of the series, all the way through to the stars' work and appearances of recent times, for instance, Adam West's appearance on "The Simpsons".
There are lots of good extras too.
Like everyone else on here, I must implore someone to help get this fantastic programme released on DVD, in all it's glory!

Rating:
Summary: Great Job! Now let's get the TV series on DVD already!!
Review: This is a pretty decent documentary on the much beloved T.V. show that so many of us enjoyed as youngsters way back when. It covers all of the often repeated, better known anecdotes from behind the scenes as well as some more obscure tidbits and information about the show and the lives and careers of some the principal actors. The liberal doses of archival footage, like the screen tests and convention videos, are simply fascinating! Thanks to what looks like a great deal of time and effort put into the research and production value, there's definitely a lot on this DVD for us Batfans to discover and enjoy.

The DVD is split up into four different documentaries whose subjects are: The Show, Adam West, Cesar Romero and Julie Newmar (where's Burt and Yvonne??). I don't know why they did this as it just allows for a certain amount of repetition and makes it seem like the producers are artificially padding the overall runtime. On the other hand, it's not too bad and there must have been a reason for it, I suppose, like perhaps they were originally made to be broadcast on television. Overall, it is very enjoyable and I definitely got my money's worth! The real problem is that the original T.V. series is not available on DVD yet! What's up with that?


Rating:
Summary: Where's the TV series?
Review: Well, as the first reviewer pointed out, the biographies of the stars looked like they were made for TV. Yes they were. Kevin Burns made them for A&E's BIOGRAPY series. The reason Yvonne is not in this is because she has some disagreement with something, maybe Burns himself? I don't know. The TV series needs to be released in UNCUT form and in box sets by season. Then after the DVDs are released, CDs of the great Nelson Riddle and Billy May music need to be released. Is my review helpful?--No. This just a good place to push for the release of the TV series from 1966. I mean, come on already!