Batman 66 WAS Bad Actually.

[MithrandirOlorin]

The problem is that for a few decades everyone had the wrong understanding of why it was Bad.

For the last decade or so internet discourse about Batman 66 has been about defending it because it's okay to have Batman stories that are fun and goofy and not so Dark, and I agree with that. The problem is from my point of view there is no darker take on Batman then Batman 66.

Chuck Dixon who was born in 1954 recounted once on the playground when the show started saying in reference to it "that's not my Batman" An eleven or twelve year old Batman fan in 1966 before any truly Dark Batman stories ever existed (even those early Kane and Finger stories are not what you've been told they are) would not have been saying this on the grounds that the show isn't dark and edgy enough for him.

Saying the show was faithful to the Comics of it's time seems justifiable on paper at first when you narrow down "it's time" to being not the whole silver age but the Jules Swartz era that started in 64. The problem is a specific aspect of the tone.

You see Silver Age Comics could often be goofy and silly and dumb, and were often I think self aware of how goofy and silly and dumb they were. But the core premise of the characters themselves was never the butt of the joke. They were sincere, as were the Schumacher Batman films, and the Brave and The Bold Cartoon and the Justice League Trapped in Time animated movie, there was a core emotional resonance they each took seriously just like my favorite goofy and silly and dumb Anime or The Princess Bride.

The 66 Batman show was inspired by William Dosier and his friends laughing at the 40s Batman serials, not laughing with them. They were not an affectionate parody of the comics but a heartless mockery of them.

A Batman who's response to watching someone die is to make a lame pun is far more of a cynical deconstruction of the character then any dark and edgy stories where he kills, because most of those take the concept of Batman killing seriously and have something to say about it, the message in Batman V Superman is that Batman should not kill, the message in Batman 66 is "who cares it's a dumb premise you shouldn't take seriously" they never even consistently kept track of it's Batman's attitude towards a criminal dying.

But people of Dixon's generation who didn't read the Comics or weren't as savvy to all this developed Nostalgia for it without actually understanding what it was doing as did younger generation watching the reruns. And then as the fans who resented the show wound up getting what they wanted from Bronze Age and Post-Crisis alternatives that were visually Darker at the same time they slowly forgot the real reason Batman 66 was offensive.

Then came the backlash to the relentlessly Dark DC stuff of the post New52 era lead by youtubers who only see cynicism and nihilism in scenes that are poorly lite with blood and scowling everywhere and so to them Batman 66 must be a happy optimistic Batman because it has bright shiny colors and characters who smile.

https://mithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2 ... ually.html

[CharlesPhipps]

I disagree.

Batman 66 wouldn't have lasted as long as it has if it was genuinely bad. There's a few programs that have stood the test of time for the Mystery Science Theater 3000 effect. However, Batman 66 isn't one of those things because the people who made the show were aware of what they were doing, which is specifically making a parody. It's also the kind of Mel Brooksian parody that functions as fully enjoyable on its own merits as an example of the medium.

As a child, plenty of Sixties kids were entirely able to enjoy the show on its own merits as "Superhero vs. Supervillains." However, watching the show as an adult is absolutely 100% clear that this is a show about as serious as Laugh In. There's a fantastic number of double entendres, oddball cameos, and jokes. It's more or less exactly the same as Get Smart was for spy fiction.

You may argue that it is making fun of comic books and laughing at them rather than with them but Batman 66 was such a ridiculous hoot that it became its own influence on comics as well as fiction as a whole. Which is to say that all of the actors enjoyed playing the broad caricatures of the Riddler, Joker, Catwoman, and Bruce Wayne. A Bruce Wayne who is a ridiculous Lawful Good stick in the mud who, if you pay the slightest bit of attention, gets more intimate female companionship than James Bond.

Which TLDR, they had fun doing it and made a madcap zanny comedy that millions of people loved.

Oddly, if you want to blame anyone for the fact that Batman 66 was ridiculous, you should blame the Comics Code Authority that was instilled by moral guardians and made gritty detective comics into ridiculous children's fair (not that they weren't always marketed to children). In that respect, Batman 66 recognizing it was ludicrous helps make artistic lemonade out of lemons.

[clearspira]

Batman 66 got two very successful animated films in Batman The Return of the Caped Crusaders in 2016 and Batman VS Two-Face in 2017. The only reason why there weren't more is because Adam West died in 2017.

If you theory is correct then these films wouldn't have sold and they wouldn't have had fans begging for more.

[MithrandirOlorin]

I explained why the show has fans.

Those Animated Movies were made to appeal to superficially Nostalgia for the show and had kind fo forgotten the original Joke. So they are by pure accident better Batman stories then their source material.

[Thebestoftherest]

Bud it okay just not to like something, you don't need to pretend otherwise.

[CharlesPhipps]

I explained why the show has fans.

Yes, the show has fans because it's funny as hell and well made.

[MithrandirOlorin]

I explained why the show has fans.

Yes, the show has fans because it's funny as hell and well made.

It being well executed at it's intent is irrelevant to my problem with it, my problem is with the intent.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

It's really accessible to kids.

[MithrandirOlorin]

It's really accessible to kids.

It shouldn't be though considering the Nihilistic ideology it teaches them.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

It's really accessible to kids.

It shouldn't be though considering the Nihilistic ideology it teaches them.

You want them to grow up to be commies?