Blabbin 'Bout Batman: The Animated Series - Beware the Gray Ghost
Added 2021-11-05 04:01:00 +0000 UTCThis week, Batman meets his greatest nemesis to date: lost media! When a mad bomber starts mimicking the crimes of a TV show he treasured as a kid, the Caped Crusader has to track down its now-faded star to figure out where this explosive villain will strike next. Of course, it's all a big excuse to sneak Adam West into the show, and nearly 30 years later, this episode serves as a touching memorial to the legendary actor who Batusi-ed his way into our hearts. So sit back and listen to us gush about this stunningly animated episode that's Pure West!
Comments
Sadly, Young Lady Chatterly II was not Adam West's only foray into Cinemax Friday After Dark...he was also in one of the Happy Hooker movies. Still I'm so glad he was able to be appreciated again. As you mentioned, he reprised his Batman role for the final two seasons of Super Friends (rebranded Super Powers). That final season gave West some fantastic material, including the episode that for the first time touched on the murder of his parents.
Stephen C. Nedell
2021-11-26 18:54:16 +0000 UTCGreat story! - Bob
Talking Simpsons
2021-11-11 17:33:51 +0000 UTCAs a six-year old, I vividly remember watching re-runs of the '66 Batman show every morning before school (I'm guessing they were being shown to cash in on the upcoming Tim Burton film) and, like Henry, I remember taking it very seriously and loving it greatly. Similarly, I remember my first time watching the Gray Ghost episode of B:TAS a few years later and recognising Adam West's voice, getting that it was a loving tribute to the old show. So, a very long time after that, when I was fortunate enough to have the chance to work with Adam on the LEGO Batman 3 videogame, I campaigned as hard as I could to include The Gray Ghost as a fully-voiced, playable character which, thankfully, was what ended up happening. Getting to write new lines of dialogue for Adam as the character, some of them referencing this episode, along with getting a "happy birthday" from Batman himself during the recording session, has to count as one of my favourite ever career and life experiences. Thanks for making this podcast, guys. It really brought back some amazing memories of the man who'll always be "my" Batman.
To Boldy Joe... Moore
2021-11-08 00:51:32 +0000 UTCThe message board fandom for this show could be a bit much back in the day. Bruce Timm used to post on one (probably the same one Bob stumbled upon) and he would criticize Spectrum for their episodes being "too anime." He didn't like the look of this episode, and I bet a bunch of fanboys just used to dump on it because Timm did. And I think we can all agree Timm was wrong. This episode looks fantastic. Love this episode. I think "Heart of Ice" is the best episode of BTAS, but this one might be my favorite. It hits all of the right notes and you get the added touch of Adam West as Gray Ghost. I grew up watching his Batman in syndication and was familiar with it and the movie before Burton's Batman arrived. I used to marvel at how my mom could pick up on voice actors in other roles ("Ray sure sounds like Fred from Scooby Doo") and this episode of BTAS was the first time I can remember doing the same, "Hey! I know this voice! It's Batman! The real Batman!" West was still in that part of his fandom where people laughed at him for his campy Batman, but imagine if this had come out in 2010 or 2015? It would win an Emmy! People grew to love Adam West and I'm glad he got to enjoy that in his later years because that show is still a tremendous amount of fun and this episode is just always a treat to go back to. Now, someone talk me out of dropping $150 on a Gray Ghost action figure.
Joe Hodgson
2021-11-05 20:27:31 +0000 UTCI really hope we will see a return to Batman-as-camp, if nostalgic audiences can look back with some sense of embarrassment at taking self-serious Bush-politics-adjacent Nolan Batman on the terms it was marketed as.
Bradford A Barker
2021-11-05 19:44:31 +0000 UTCit was a New York comic con that I talk to Adam west for a minute I forgot the year 2015 or 2016. I thought Mark Hamill was type cast till Batman maybe.
Cossover
2021-11-05 13:20:06 +0000 UTCI think it's important to remember that while it's easy to mock Adam West's Batman it WAS important for one reason: It grounded the character and more or less established his rogues gallery. Silver Age Batman would more often than not be flying off into outer space to fight Rainbow Aliens while giving blanket moral lessons to Robin. Silver Age Batman was goofy but also overly fantastical and scifi in order to follow on trends and this makes a lot of his stories feel incongruous. Superman can get away with it since science fiction is written into his background but Batman is a much more pulpy and grounded character innately. While Adam West's Batman is very silly, it's very silly in a way that focuses Batman on Gotham and the people in it rather than on space aliens and weird dimensional beings like Bat-Mite. Before Adam West's Batman people knew who "The Joker" was maybe and that's it. Adam West's Batman didn't necessarily create a lot of his rogues gallery, but it's doubtful people would know who Catwoman, Penguine or Riddler are without that show existing. Or at least they'd be radically different in their iconography. Great podcast! Can't wait for the next one!
Devin Hoffarth
2021-11-05 06:43:10 +0000 UTCBurt Ward and his dog food is endlessly fascinating and I’m not even kidding. He was on Kevin Smith’s Fatman on Batman years ago and talking about his Great Dane rescue and the fact that most dogs die early from bloat or torsion because commercial dog food is coated in lard so it ruins arteries and makes them eat past the point of satiety so their stomachs can flip during physical activity after and with this in mind, his Great Danes live into their 20s. I was skeptical it was a big con at first but then he mentioned, and it’s totally true, that he sells the food at cost so it was like $1 a pound and the extra cost was just shipping it from California. Bought it for years until it was just more convenient to get high quality stuff in town but I never forgot that knowledge and my very happy and healthy shiba Inu is at least 16 right now and he is 100% to thank for it.
Nick Grayson
2021-11-05 05:02:31 +0000 UTCI always go back to this episode on my rewatch I do every few years. It’s crazy how it really hits different as I get older. Now it does move me to tears. I miss Adam West and wish to hell they had made Lookwell. Plus they could do the 66 Batman on their live action April fools episode they do.
Michael Branson
2021-11-05 04:44:26 +0000 UTCI'm really glad that they included Adam West in the show like this since he's honestly such an important part of Batman as a cultural icon, despite the hate his show got in later years because of the turn towards "seriousness" with Burton and co. I watched the 67 movie a LOT growing up, but the show itself was always kind of mystifying to me because the one channel that seemed to run it was not something we had at home. Because of that, it wasn't until Teletoon Retro started airing it in the early 2010s that I watched more than just a random episode or two - though I wouldn't REALLY dig into it until I bought the Bly-Ray of the complete series 3 years ago. -- This episode also perfectly encapsulates the tone and humanity of the show very well, with how somber and personal it feels, in addition to it pointing towards its inspirations with the pulp noir serial hero they invented for it.
Dylan (batmanboy11) Freitag
2021-11-05 04:05:10 +0000 UTC
