Any news re Batman 1960's TV Series coming to DVD?

[Deco King]

Are there any further rumours regarding a release date for a Special Edition Boxset of the Adam West/Burt Ward 1960's Batman TV Series?

The villains were my main reason for watching the series, I loved The Joker played by Cesar Romero, The Penguin played by Burgess Meredith and The Riddler played by Frank Gorshin ( who died only last year).

They should release this soon whilst there are still actors around to do commentaries/making of documentaries etc. No doubt there are legal wrangles about copyright issues etc?

[Chew]

Here's an article you'll want to read: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=4637

Short answer if you don't want to read: "not anytime soon"

[Joseph B]

The 1966 Batman movie is available on DVD.

It stars practically everybody that was in the TV series (including Ceaser Romero and Frank Gorshin) and includes an Adam West/Burt Ward commentary track. It's probably as close as you'll ever get to the original series being on DVD.

Here's a link to info on the movie at the IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060153/

One (small) consolation: When the series finally is released (probably around 2009) you'll be able to get the entire three years of the series on two dual-layer Blu-ray discs!!

[grendel824]

Here's an article you'll want to read: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=4637

Short answer if you don't want to read: "not anytime soon"

That's truly a shame - they should at least get the actors to record some commentary tracks for the inevitable release in the future before we lose any more of them. I'm sure there are some great stories!

[dvd-4-life]

Why was it so easy to release the Batman serials from Columbia(Sony) and the 1966 Batman movie but no one seems to want to go near the 60's tv series?Fox and DC comics should split the profits 50/50 and let bygones be bygones.

[drmoze]

The 1966 Batman movie is available on DVD.

It stars practically everybody that was in the TV series (including Ceaser Romero and Frank Gorshin) and includes an Adam West/Burt Ward commentary track. It's probably as close as you'll ever get to the original series being on DVD.

I've even seen this in the Walmmart $5 bin, which is a great deal.

Don't forget to pick up Return to the Batcave with Adam & Burt.

Also check out the Black Scorpion collection for great campy action in the same vein. Adam West even guest stars as a villain in an episode or 2.

[MovieExchange]

Here's an article you'll want to read: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=4637

Short answer if you don't want to read: "not anytime soon"

I believe that article is partially incorrect.

According to the president of Rittenhouse trading cards (a very big Batman fan), one of the first things he did after taking over the company was to go to DC and request the rights to do a trading card set based on the Adam West Batman series. They refused, telling him that they only want one version of Batman on the market, and that's the "Dark Knight" version that's currently running. They pretty much want the fans to forget that the campy Batman ever happened.

So while it may be true that two different groups share ownership in the rights, one of them is not willing to release the series at all.

[Lastdaysofrain]

Tim Lucas has a great article about the Batman TV show up on the blog section of his Video Watchdog site. I highly recommend reading it.

www.videowatchdog.com

[TimT]

According to the president of Rittenhouse trading cards (a very big Batman fan), one of the first things he did after taking over the company was to go to DC and request the rights to do a trading card set based on the Adam West Batman series. They refused, telling him that they only want one version of Batman on the market, and that's the "Dark Knight" version that's currently running. They pretty much want the fans to forget that the campy Batman ever happened.

While you may be honestly relaying what you have heard, I must reply to that illogical line of reasoning. That is simply a bunch of hogwash! Baloney! If it was true that they (DC/Warner) only want one version of Batman on the market, how the heck could they possibly justify the re-release in the Batman anthology series of the George Clooney version. We Batman fans deserve better than that for an excuse.

[rw2516]

Why was it so easy to release the Batman serials from Columbia(Sony) and the 1966 Batman movie but no one seems to want to go near the 60's tv series?Fox and DC comics should split the profits 50/50 and let bygones be bygones.
It goes way beyond that.
The show was produced by Greenway Productions. They hold the copyright.
20th Century Fox owns the prints
Warner Bros. owns the characters.
Neil Hefti, who composed the music owns the theme song.
The costume designer copyrighted all his/her costume designs.
The Batmobile used in the show is owned by Chuck(?) Barris. He hasn't allowed any licensing in 40 years.

[TimT]

MovieExchange, I did want to say thanks for sharing the info. I'm not shooting at the messenger. It is interesting to hear the excuses far-fetched as they may be.

[TimT]

I think greed by all involved in the ownership rights stated by rw2516 are the most likely reasons for the delay in a Batman dvd release.

[MovieExchange]

MovieExchange, I did want to say thanks for sharing the info. I'm not shooting at the messenger. It is interesting to hear the excuses far-fetched as they may be.


No prob, I understand. I'm just going by what I read in a trade magazine. I wish I still had it to quote from, but it was around April or May of last year (the magazine was Non-Sports Update), and I threw it out long ago.

I can say that it was the direct quote from him in an interview, not a "we heard this from..." line, and since he has no reason to lie (the question was phrased to him as "I know you're a big Batman fan, have you tried to get the rights to do a trading card set since taking over?"), so I'd guess that the falsehood, if any, would be straight from DC.

However, knowing what I've heard from various people in the comics industry, it wouldn't surprise me. From what I've heard, DC is more protective of what can be done with Batman than they are of any other character, even Superman.

As for the Anthology release, one could argue that there's enough of the Dark Knight inspiration to it, as compared to the overly campy Adam West era. I have a feeling we'll never know, because if they didn't release it to coincide with the movie or DVD release of Batman Begins, we're never seeing it.

I'll be happy with the boots I bought last year, I guess. I hated to buy them, but I really don't have any other choice if they're going to refuse to release legit versions.

[dvd-4-life]

It goes way beyond that.
The show was produced by Greenway Productions. They hold the copyright.
20th Century Fox owns the prints
Warner Bros. owns the characters.
Neil Hefti, who composed the music owns the theme song.
The costume designer copyrighted all his/her costume designs.
The Batmobile used in the show is owned by Chuck(?) Barris. He hasn't allowed any licensing in 40 years.
Wasn't there a talk at HTF with Warner Brothers and they said they have nothing too do with the Batman 60's tv series and they said that is was owned by Fox and DC comics.

[Cameron]

old post worth linking

Mildly hopeful sign about Batman 60s TV Show on DVD (http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=409419&highlight=warner)


Batmania DVD question (http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=425389&highlight=adam+west)

Batman 60's Series. When? (http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=425116&highlight=adam+west)

60's Batman T.V. Show (http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=347601&highlight=adam+west)

Batman 1966 TV Series when is it likely to get a DVD release? (http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=382100&highlight=adam+west)

Batman and Wild Wild West TV shows... (http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=370979&highlight=adam+west)

Batman TV Series? (http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=323611&highlight=adam+west)

[rw2516]

Wasn't there a talk at HTF with Warner Brothers and they said they have nothing too do with the Batman 60's tv series and they said that is was owned by Fox and DC comics.
Warner Brothers owns DC Comics. A few years ago in a HTF interview with the head of Fox DVD (Peter Stratton?) said Fox would love to release Batman on DVD but that it was a legal nightmare. It's just a one of kind type thing where an independent production company(Greenway) instead of hiring those involved, in which case they would own all contributions under copyright, must have contracted out. I don't believe any of the guest stars have any legal claim, but at one time Julie Newmar was monitoring ebay and having any tapes of episodes in which she appeared kicked off. I don't believe there are any restrictions on Fox as far as television distribution is concerned and I keep hoping the show will show up on one of the digital movie channels like Encore Action.
Another rights issue, albeit a small one, is that The Green Hornet appears in three episodes. The Green Hornet is a trademark character now owned by Universal, another finger in the pie.
Greenway also produced The Green Hornet. This show is a Fox vs. Universal problem. Also there are several instances of Batman playinmg on a tv in the background(audio only). It seems to be the favorite show of hoods to watch while killing time playing cards in a warehouse hideout. Could probably fix any rights issues by dubbing something else over the audio for a dvd release. Best bet is to get them off Encore Action while you still can.
Never give up hope though. Thankfully all the complex issues with the Irwin Allen shows have been resolved and Fox is releasing those shows. In this case each show(Lost in Space, Time Tunnel, Voyage to Bottom of Sea, Land of Giants) was produced by Irwin Allen productions in association with another company in association with Fox. The heirs of Irwin Allen were able to merge all five production companies into one company called Synthesis and make a deal with Fox for DVD release.

[dvd-4-life]

What about Lurch from The Addams Family making a cameo on Batman(60's tv show)-who owns the Addams Family tv show rights(Paramount???)?

[emhello]

Still also waiting on Addams Family and Wild Wild West :(

[rw2516]

What about Lurch from The Addams Family making a cameo on Batman(60's tv show)-who owns the Addams Family tv show rights(Paramount???)?
Addams Family is a Filmways Production. The vhs tapes had a Worldvision distibution logo on them. When Hallmark channel ran a Halloween marathon couple years ago the Worldvision logo was still on them. Some months later the show popped up on TVLand with the MGM/UA logo. MGM/UA(now Sony) may have purchased Filmways. Mr. Ed and Green Acres are filmways shows and MGM/UA released them on dvd. But, Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction are also Filmways and "official" dvds were released by MPI. Plus I think another company is releasing Season One of Beverly Hillbillies. Whatever, Addams Family is definately MGM/UA/Sony.
I want to know where the rights to The Invaders rest. The pilot and remake were released on tape by Republic. Goodtimes released several eps. on tape. When the show was on sci-fi channel it was distributed by Worldvision.

[Albert71292]

Addams Family is a Filmways Production. The vhs tapes had a Worldvision distibution logo on them. When Hallmark channel ran a Halloween marathon couple years ago the Worldvision logo was still on them. Some months later the show popped up on TVLand with the MGM/UA logo. MGM/UA(now Sony) may have purchased Filmways. Mr. Ed and Green Acres are filmways shows and MGM/UA released them on dvd. But, Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction are also Filmways and "official" dvds were released by MPI. Plus I think another company is releasing Season One of Beverly Hillbillies. Whatever, Addams Family is definately MGM/UA/Sony.
I want to know where the rights to The Invaders rest. The pilot and remake were released on tape by Republic. Goodtimes released several eps. on tape. When the show was on sci-fi channel it was distributed by Worldvision.

My brain asplode after reading that!

Would like to add, however, that when "Hillbillies" and "Junction" are aired on television, there is a Paramount (Viacom) logo at the end of each episode. It has me wondering if Paramount will put out "seasons" of the two, after I've bought the MPI "official" releases, which aren't complete seasons, but have nice "extras".

[Editor, The JEI]

The Batmobile used in the show is owned by Chuck(?) Barris. He hasn't allowed any licensing in 40 years.

It's George Barris who designed the TV Batmobile, largely based on a 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car, if anyone's keeping score.

Chuck Barris hosted the Gong Show and was the subject of the 2002 movie Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.

OK, resume the conversation...

[emhello]

I thought that Addams Family had a shot at being released around the same time the Munsters came out. That came and went...

[dvd-4-life]

Could the Batman 60's tv series be released in other regions without all the problems that exist in region 1?

[David Lambert]

No.

[digidoh]

What about Lurch from The Addams Family making a cameo on Batman?

What about Colonel Klink who was one of the Batclimb cameos? Not only was he in the wrong era (World War II vs. 1960's), he was on the wrong network (Batman on ABC, Hogan's Heroes on CBS)!

[JeremyM]

Man I'd kill to have this on DVD. I can't believe they can just settle this thing, 100% of 0 profits is a lot worse than say 10% of the profits or whatever they are wrangling over.

The guy that designed the Batmobile sounds like a nutjob, why hold up the rights? Does he not want someone to see that car?

[emhello]

Figures my 4 fav. TV shows will never see the light of day (Wild Wild West, Batman, Addams Family, Friday The 13th The Series). I have have really bad karma from a past lifetime.

[rw2516]

What about Colonel Klink who was one of the Batclimb cameos? Not only was he in the wrong era (World War II vs. 1960's), he was on the wrong network (Batman on ABC, Hogan's Heroes on CBS)!

As cool as it would be, thank god The Beatles or Kirk and Spock never made a wall climbing cameo, that would make legal problems even worse.

Probably though, there is no legal claim on the cameos. Those that appeared most likely signed off on it.

[Cameron]

signed off on the airing and re-runs, but not home video...thats a whole other format...



We had a deal with you, on the comics remember, for likeness rights, and as we're not only the artistic basis, but also obviously the character basis, for your intellectual property, Bluntman and Chronic. When said property was optioned by Miramax Films, you were legally obliged to secure our permission to transfer the concept to another medium. As you failed to do that, Banky, you are in breach of the original contract, ergo you find yourself in a very actionable position.

[dvd-4-life]

Fox and Warner Brothers would seem like strange bedfellows if this ever does come to pass.I can recall a co-production of The Towering Inferno but don't know of anything else.

[David Lambert]

It goes way beyond that.
The show was produced by Greenway Productions. They hold the copyright.
20th Century Fox owns the prints
Warner Bros. owns the characters.
Neil Hefti, who composed the music owns the theme song.
The costume designer copyrighted all his/her costume designs.
The Batmobile used in the show is owned by Chuck(?) Barris. He hasn't allowed any licensing in 40 years.


Warner Bros. does not own the Characters. Their sister company, DC Comics, does. The Warner Bros. studio is apparently not involved in this at all, other than if DC somehow got Fox to relinquish their claim on home video rights, Warner would obviously be the probable company to release it instead. But that scenario is never gonna happen, so Warner's out of the picture. Warner and Fox *CAN* co-operate; Warner is loaning Blazing Saddles to Fox to include in Fox's new Mel Brooks collection.

I can't believe that the Batmobile designer (GEORGE Barris) is holding things up. A) The same Batmobile showed up in the DVD of the Adam West film, right? B) Not long ago (a year or less) I saw in Wal-Mart toy aisles (and other stores, either Target or Toys R US; I forget) had a series of commemorative Batmobile toys in Hot-Wheels-size (or just a bit bigger) and featured designs from over the years, including the one in question. No rights issue prevented that toy from being made.

The costumes were also in the film, obviously. The music, on the other hand, was not I don't think. It's been at least a year since I last watched the film, but I do seem to recall the music being largely different. I'm sure someone will confirm or refute that. On the other hand, didn't the music show up in either "Return to the Batcave" or "Holy Batmania", or both? Been a while since I've seen those, too, though.

One thing worth pointing out is that Greenway may be the real ticket, the real obstacle. William Dozier (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0236546/filmoyear) produced (and narrated) the show. He did the same with Green Hornet...another show not on DVD. He also produced The Tammy Grimes Show (some of you may remember Grimes as the voice of Molly Grue in the animated film The Last Unicorn). Anyway, none of Dozier's TV shows have made it to DVD. I've started hearing rumors that his estate doesn't want to co-operate with Fox. That Dozier had longstanding trust issues with the studio, and that he and his Greenway Productions team pretty much resented them for several things, including a lack of interest in his <a href="http://comics.ign.com/articles/599/599207p1.html" target="ign">Wonder Woman show idea</a>.

Maybe it's less DC and more Dozier?...

[Paul Drake]

Thanks for an informative post David. Dozier was married to Hollywood beauty Ann Rutherford for many years; she is his widow. As far as I know Ann is still active and occasionally makes appearances at nostalgia shows. Ideally someone who sees her at one of these things could ask her point blank about this. She would (or at least should) be in as good a position as anyone to know matters regarding his estate.

As a sidebar, Dozier was also married to another beauty - Joan Fontaine. He must've been quite a guy to snag two of Hollywood's finest.

[digidoh]

I can't believe that the Batmobile designer (GEORGE Barris) is holding things up.

I can't imagine it myself, but I wouldn't be too surprised. In the early 80's, The Comics Journal had an article about DC trying to prevent Barris from displaying the Batmobile at auto shows. Both parties were trying to protect their rights. But, trademark rights can be split up, and Barris had trademarked the word "Batmobile" to be applied to a full-size car, something DC hadn't considered. I don't know what finally happened, but every so often auto shows stilll come to town and feature the Batmobile (and Barris himself appeared in footage shot for the movie DVD). But I've never read anything about Barris holding up releases of the TV series.

[rw2516]

[QUOTE=David Lambert

I can't believe that the Batmobile designer (GEORGE Barris) is holding things up. A) The same Batmobile showed up in the DVD of the Adam West film, right? B) Not long ago (a year or less) I saw in Wal-Mart toy aisles (and other stores, either Target or Toys R US; I forget) had a series of commemorative Batmobile toys in Hot-Wheels-size (or just a bit bigger) and featured designs from over the years, including the one in question. No rights issue prevented that toy from being made.

The costumes were also in the film, obviously. The music, on the other hand, was not I don't think. It's been at least a year since I last watched the film, but I do seem to recall the music being largely different. I'm sure someone will confirm or refute that. On the other hand, didn't the music show up in either "Return to the Batcave" or "Holy Batmania", or both? Been a while since I've seen those, too, though.

[/QUOTE]
Everybody involved signed off on the movie giving Fox clear rights for the movie only. Fox owns the movie and whatever is in it lock, stock and barrel. But just for the theatrical movie.
Barris hasn't licensed the Batmobile since 1966. There are several toys from that time. A couple years ago Playing Mantis/Polar Lights obtained a license from DC to repop the 1960's model kits of The Batplane, Batboat and BatCycle. They couldn't get a license for the Batmobile model(based on the Barris TV show version) because Barris held the rights. What Playing Mantis did was design there own 1960s Batmobile that is somewhat siumilar but has very noticable differences and marketed it. It came as a model kit, die cast(approx 1:24 scale) and the small die-cast that was somewhat larger than a Hot Wheels car. These were sold all over including Wal-Mart and Toys R Us. They also put out a 1950s Batmobile they designed at the same time also as a model and die-cast.
The Barris Batmobile is in Return to the Batcave. In fact, in one scene where the Batmobile is parked on the street George Barris walks past it. Why he agreed to Return to the Batcave but is stubborn on everything else is beyond me.
Within the modeling hobby there is a big market for unlicensed Barris Batmobile kits. You can also pick up conversion kits so that you can convert a Futura model kit into a Barris Batmobile.

[nodeerforamonth]

maybe they can do what they do on the WWE DVDs and just blur out the Batmobile whenever it appears.

[DVD Josh]

maybe they can do what they do on the WWE DVDs and just blur out the Batmobile whenever it appears.

Like an invisicar? Would Bat and Rob just look like they are floating in mid-air?

[nodeerforamonth]

Like an invisicar? Would Bat and Rob just look like they are floating in mid-air?

No, it'd be more like a big black blur.

[dvd-4-life]

If Batman(60's)can't be released in other regions how can a show like Ally McBeal be released elsewhere with all its music copyright problems?

[sparks]

It's being sold on eBay.

[Ms. M]

Not just on ebay- there have also been a number of releases of that show overseas in Asia and the UK. Does anyone know if a foreign release of the Batman show would be possible? Probably not or they would have done it by now.

And emhello, Wild Wild West is coming to DVD. At least you'll get one of your four shows.

[David Lambert]

If Batman(60's)can't be released in other regions how can a show like Ally McBeal be released elsewhere with all its music copyright problems?

Because of different agreements worded different ways, and music laws vs. other kinds of rights laws.

[Cameron]

i think one reason why this has not been released in other regions, is that there are no prints available that are not marked with Station ID watermarks....making it an automatic bootleg.

Even most bootlegs i have seen at comic conventions have tv land or other emblems pop up from time to time

[Cameron]

bump