1966 Batman - Page 3

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronald Epstein 

 

 

 

 

The bootleg market is benefiting.  There are sets of the TV

series taken directly from studio masters on the market.

That's who I meant when I said the guys selling 'homemade' sets. It's a pity that's what it's come to. When I was in discussion with Jeff Hayne and Andy Mangels of BCI/Eclipse about the then-forthcoming Isis sets, one of the things we talked about were the bootlegs of that show. If I remember correctly, one of the things they'd been using to gauge popularity of the Filmation shows (and deciding which to release next) was which ones seemed to be doing swift bootleg business.

Well as an aside, in the UK, one of our channels (ITV4) has acquired the rights to all three seasons of Batman and is showing them Mondays-Fridays, two episodes a day.

Good news, because the BBC were previously showing them on one of their extra channels, but only showed the first two series - they never did get around to the Batgirl episodes. I emailed ITV4 and they've confirmed they will show all the episodes. They look pretty good as well.

The rerun previous to this was the Fox Channel, who did complete reruns but that was oh six or seven years ago now (along with the Irwin Allen series too).

sadly, Fox changed into FX Channel, and is now endless reruns of CSI: Pentagon Toilets or whatever.

Don't forget Batman is getting repeated on Hub as well, in case anyone is curious in checking it out. Thought I saw Green Hornet getting repeats on SyFy as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronald Epstein 

 

 

 

 

The bootleg market is benefiting.  There are sets of the TV

series taken directly from studio masters on the market.

 

We won't talk further about this other than make note that this

is ultimately what happens when shows as popular as this get

tangled up in legal disputes and are withheld from the consumer.

Without getting into bootlegging, what is a studio master?

Quote:

Originally Posted by FrancisP 

Without getting into bootlegging, what is a studio master?

In a nutshell, several years ago a complete set of episodes were "leaked" from Fox - transfered from the studio master 35mm archival prints. including the ABC Network logo and end tags on all the shows. 

It's not an isolated incident either 

i think it has been over 30 years since i remember seeing Batman on tv. At one time it was shown on YTV in Canada at 4-5pm. I would love to have this set, but as years past the likelihood of the release gets weaker. The generation that grew up with Batman are now in their 40-65 range and it is doubtful the youth today will be into a dated show.

I first saw the show in 1983 when Indianapolis got a new channel that eventually became FOX. I fell in love with it instantly!

I first saw it on KTTV Fox 11 in Los Angeles when I was like 2 or 3 years old. Of course, the shows were edited, but I wouldn't have known, because, obviously, I was so young back then.

FYI, there's now a Facebook group titled "Holy Holdup! Put '60s Batman on DVD." Stumbled across it the other day. It appears to be full of folks with a passion to see this show released on DVD. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeWilson 

In a nutshell, several years ago a complete set of episodes were "leaked" from Fox - transfered from the studio master 35mm archival prints. including the ABC Network logo and end tags on all the shows. 

 

It's not an isolated incident either 

I don't think the season 3 episodes had the ABC logo, and these "transfers" from studio masters were done on VHS around 1989 and given as gifts to the cast for recording new promos for the resyndication of the show following the success of the first Keaton movie (as I've heard it).

So, bootlegs converted from VHS, sometimes with on-screen tracking, play, etc. VCR graphics overlaid and in most cases, compressed more than they should be (too many per disc), so they're not exactly as great as some of their sellers are claiming (naturally, they're wanting you to part with your money), so I wouldn't get excited.

I read something along those lines too -- that they were sourced from copies made by Fox for the cast. As far as the ABC color logos -- didn't Batman always, right from day one, have its own show-specific "Batman In Color" logo at the top of the show? That served the same purpose as the more general ABC color logo intro (which I'm guessing they took from the short pilot version of "Hi Diddle Riddle" which is on the Holy Batmania DVD released by Fox) and I don't think any show ever had both, it would have been one or the other.

Just mentioning it for historical interest purposes...

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndyMcKinney 

 

I don't think the season 3 episodes had the ABC logo, and these "transfers" from studio masters were done on VHS around 1989 and given as gifts to the cast for recording new promos for the resyndication of the show following the success of the first Keaton movie (as I've heard it).

 

So, bootlegs converted from VHS, sometimes with on-screen tracking, play, etc. VCR graphics overlaid and in most cases, compressed more than they should be (too many per disc), so they're not exactly as great as some of their sellers are claiming (naturally, they're wanting you to part with your money), so I wouldn't get excited.

The ABC logo played first ("This is an ABC Color Presentation"), then Batman in Color with the show's logo, then the episode.

The first half-season that started in January 1966 would have used the generic ABC Color Presentation bumper ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8djcMfILzI ). Once the Fall of 1966 hit, that generic logo disappeared and all ABC shows used their own unique "In Color" bumpers.  There was never a case where both were used, despite what's shown on bootleg videos.

Harry

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry-N 

The first half-season that started in January 1966 would have used the generic ABC Color Presentation bumper ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8djcMfILzI ). Once the Fall of 1966 hit, that generic logo disappeared and all ABC shows used their own unique "In Color" bumpers.  There was never a case where both were used, despite what's shown on bootleg videos.

 

Harry

Yeah, the "cast" bootlegs (that were supposedly made from 'vault' masters, but I suspect were made from unedited syndication masters) have the generic animated ABC "color" logo at the beginning, followed by the Batman "in color" logo, and at the end of the episode, another ABC presentation logo (of a studio camera) on all season one shows, and the same again on all season two shows (except the ending ABC presentation slide is on a blue background rather than a photo of a camera). On the season 3 episodes, only the Batman "in color" logo is seen.

if what Harry says is true, perhaps those ABC logos were added/retained when the show entered its very first syndication run, especially if it was sold primarily to ABC O&Os (or was syndicated by ABC itself until the government forced the networks to spin-off/sell-off their syndication divisions into separate companies).

The Hub played one last night that opened with Happy Birthday To You.  Another hurdle to overcome.

Let's wrap up any discussions concerning the bootlegs.

It is against forum policy, and my fault for bringing up the topic.

Thanks

I had watched The Green Hornet episodes again when they turned up on Encores a year or two ago (in SD), but I recorded some of the HD versions from Syfy the other night, and they look GREAT! I was very impressed by the transfers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattH. 

I had watched The Green Hornet episodes again when they turned up on Encores a year or two ago (in SD), but I recorded some of the HD versions from Syfy the other night, and they look GREAT! I was very impressed by the transfers.

Yes, it looks as if they had been remastered for HD. Here's hoping it's in preparation for an eventual dvd/blu-ray release!

Attention Batfans in the Virginia area:

William Dozier's widow, actress Ann Rutherford, will be appearing next week at the Williamsburg Film Festival (March 9-12) in Williamsburg, Virginia.  She was married to him from the 1950s to his death.  Hopefully during the Q&A session someone will ask her for her input on the home video issues from the Dozier Estate's viewpoint.    Although she probably doesn't get involved in the minute legal details she should be well aware of the big picture.

For those who are unaware, Mrs. Rutherford had quite an accomplished career of her own including a starring role in the Andy Hardy movies and being one of the very few surviving cast members of "Gone With the Wind".

There's a blog now dedicated to Greenway and the Dozier estate:

http://desmonddoomsday.wordpress.com/

I see no word of any DVD issues on it, however.

Ann Rutherford was in a lot of great movies (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0751946/).  Hopefully, someone will go and ask about Batman.  I wish I could go.

A gentleman who uses the handle "Honk" spoke to Ms. Rutherford and posted the following at the 1966 Batman Message Board:

Quote:

I wasn't there for Ms. Rutherford's panel interview, so there could be more coming out of that (though I think more than likely that topic will not come up).  In speaking to her for just a minute, she gave the strong impression of having nothing to do with the negotiations - said she had no idea when or if the series was coming out (and looked quite surprised that the question of DVD release would be directed at her).  She was very cordial and spoke with enthusiasm about the show. A dealer there said he'd heard that Greenway(?) and Fox were the two parties arguing over the split and which had to pay what fee (for example, the rights for all the various music cues) and that all the surviving actors' cuts would already be determined by their contracts, but the deceased actors' estates would have to be dealt with and those cases added uncertainty to the situation.  He sounded like he had a good source of information, but some of his info conflicts with what I've heard here several times here, so I have no idea which source is most reliable.

Thanks for the posting!

I know there has been many discussion on batman 1966 series and i would love to see it come out. However, there are too many issues and window is closing on this series as it is over 40+ years old and generations that watched are starting to shrink. You can also add in the fact that batman character itself has been changed to a more darker version to distance itself from the 1966 show makes it even more difficult to see this set ever come out on dvd.

I hope shortly that all parties can get together for the common good and make one statement on whether not the show will ever come out on dvd.

Okay, I know we've heard rumblings before, but there's a new interview with Adam West - which you can hear here: http://ralphgarman.bandcamp.com/ - in which he says that the show is coming to DVD "soon."

It's in Part II, around the 42:00 minute mark, and he says that Warner and Fox have gone back and forth, figuring out to whom they would owe money and how to slice up the pie. "But the rumor has it that it won't be long now, folks," he said, "so the Chinese can stop with the piracy."

The interview was done Jan. 28, 2012.

Don't shoot the messenger - just passing on what I've heard. Of course, we all want it to be true. We'll just have to wait and see. 

(And BTW, you can listen to the interview for free.)

I revisited the show this past year, and it isn't as good as I remembered it....maybe if it was remastered and on blu-ray I might enjoy it better.