Thank you so much for the amazing support on this video! Many are asking who the actors really were. They were hard to find and relatively unknown and uncredited in the episode. Here are their names: Joker- Fred Carson, Albert Cavens-Penguin, Eddie Hice-Riddler, Marilyn Watson-Catwoman, Guy Way- King Tut, Al Wyatt Sr.-Egghead
Wow, my hat is off to you Rick, you were able to get the names of all the "fake" actors! Well done my friend!!! 👍👍 (PS, today is the Skippers birthday!!! 🎂)
Read an article years ago that the stuntman who doubled for Adam West said that all of these "villians" were actually all of the stunt doubles for each of the actors that they would use. They were all brought back as a so-called curtain call for all their wonderful work and paid them all scale for their appearance. 🦇👍🏼 A great video!!
I figured they were the stand ins or stunt doubles. It makes sense that they were paid scale. It is nice that Dozier and team gave them a bit of a party for their work.
I loved the Batman TV show. All the kids came to my house since we had a color TV and show was in color. I remember this episode. I never realized different actors played the characters.
Here's a fun one, King Tut was the only villain who found out that Batman was Bruce Wayne and it was Victor Buono last series appearance as the character. The backstory was he had been a mild mannered college history professor who got struck on the head during a campus protest making him believe he was King Tut. In the episode the character was about to reveal who Batman was when he was struck again rendering him unconscious and was back to his normal self again when he awoke. Since King Tut the villain was no more the character couldn't have returned having gone back to his previous life and it was a continuity error since he'd remember that Batman was Bruce Wayne...
He actually discovered Batman’s identity twice in the series but the first time he tried to publicly reveal it but Batman was able to have Bruce Wayne and Batman together at the same time by putting the joker’s robot thst he acquired in the Batsuit and make it look like Batman and used ventriloquism for the voice and Batman was there as Bruce Wayne
I realized immediately that they were fake and also understood why. No problem with that. What didn't sit well with me was that King Thut was in jail. At the end of all his episodes he would get knocked on the head, and revert back to his mild mannered egyptology professor self, who couldn't be arrested (and rightly so, imo) as he was absolutely innocent of the crimes of his evil alter ego. He was probably my favorite villain, and I liked that he got to be a good guy again, after a good bash on the noggin! Why was he in a cell? That was unfair!
It was clear these weren't the originals... however, as a child I figured that prison life had its effects. Loved it anytime they showed the villains behind bars, real or otherwise. Great episode as ever, Mr. Nineg.
Matt C.-If I hadn't seen this video I wouldn't have believed it, because it looked like the villains were played by the original actors, instead of impostors.
The best part of course is that all these "super villains" are being kept in adjoining cells and are still allowed to wear their costumes. I guess all they do all day is stand around and plot.
RIP, Adam West, and all of the other larger-than-life actors who brought us such great Bat-entertainment. They will live for eternity in re-runs and box sets.
I remember this as a kid, and I remember something seeming off, as they were filmed from behind more than you would expect, for having all these characters in an episode. And they used old audio tracks of their laughter, etc. instead of just having them give dialog.
Another telltale sign was that all the villains were invisible when they were performing their criminals deeds. Ida Lupino and Howard Duff had perfected an spray which rendered the criminals invisible.
Of course it was their stunt doubles , the real villains wern't gonna stand there and get punched in the face then get arrested . Remember kids , always have a fill in if ypu're gonna go to jail .
I remember watching this episode for the first time when I was eight. I realized that something was "off" about the villains, but I enjoyed the episode anyway. By then, I had seen several War Movies where M47 and M48 tanks were used to portray Shermans and Panzers - as a model builder, I knew the difference - and was beginning to develop an appreciation for stand-ins when the real actor or prop wasn't available. Of course, with modern CGI, this isn't a problem, anymore . . . . Thanks for posting this!
Fun Fact: Arkham Asylum wasn’t introduced to the Batman mythology until October 1974 in Issue 258 of his titular comic book series, so before then it was literally just a State Penitentiary (also distinct from Blackgate Penitentiary, which was introduced in May 1991’s Detective Comics Issue 629).
Yeah, I did catch it...but years later. However, I caught the Catwoman stand in right away. For one, by this time, Eartha Kitt was Catwoman for season 3, not Meriwether or Newmar.
I recently read this was a thank you of sorts to the stand-ins/stunt doubles. I think it was clever to use them especially since there weren’t as many fight scenes in the last season.
This happens a lot in TV shows where the actors get paid more money than the show can budget. Even though Lynda Carters Wonder Woman didn't have standard villains, she herself had stand-ins, body doubles, and prop people, instead of the production company making video duplicates of her. Lots of TV shows that had big name stars as guests would also use look alikes in later episodes because the original star was indisposed.
Well, once you slowed things down, it was easier to tell they were fakes. They did actually get the authentic actors for the 1966 Batman movie, except Julie Newmar wasn't available. I saw most of the episodes the first time around, but don't quite remember this one. Great job as always, Rick.
That is correct but in some scenes the stunt person can be seen visibly especially frank gorshin’s stunt man in fight scenes like in the apartment fight and the deck of the submarine fight
The thing that made me wonder the most about the episode (long after the fact in reruns) was if 20th Century Fox ever marketed those cardboard cutouts of Batman, Robin and Batgirl? This was in the 90s and those types of life sized novelties were becoming pupolar all over again!
I find it funny that the villains on shows like this were allowed to wear their costumes while in prison. Often, or most likely, not only are their costumes removed, they are usually given a hair cut and prison clothing, but also very likely moved to different facilities if they are related in any way. That was too much of a setup for an escape and getting back to their work by just walking out of the building!
It was not Arkham. DC Comics didn't "borrow" the name of HP Lovecraft's city in Massachusetts for it's insane asylum until the 1970s. Also, the 3rd season episodes, i.e. the Batgirl episodes, were not filmed or shown in pairs.
Using doubles (as well as the fight scene filmed in pitch darkness) was a way to save money. The doubles had appeared in earlier Batman episodes as stunt doubles or uncredited henchmen, according to imdb. I noticed King Tut's double right away, as you see more of his face.
yah and then they all turn invisible for the big battle at the end. This idea works better in animated format where you can draw any one you want and just voice them over.
Let's also remember at the time these shows were broadcast, eventhough shot on film, they were meant to be shown in standard-definitiontelevision, therefore resolution & clarity of an image was never meant for the HD TV sets we have today.
Hey Rick, I knew that these major supervillains that were either shot from behind or in silhouette weren't the actual actors. But it was very clever for them to use their body doubles instead, as well as unused audio recordings of the actual actors from earlier shoots for the series. Cesar Romero's body double as The Joker. Burgess Meredith's body double as The Penguin. Frank Gorshin's body double as The Riddler. Lee Meriwether's body double as The Catwoman. Vincent Price's body double as Egghead. Victor Buono's body double as King Tut.
I actually never noticed that myself. I was around 7 years old when Bat Man aired ,and I continued to watch the re-runs well into my teens. I will have to go back and see if they used any "OLD" voice over tracks for the artists . Vincent Price's voice in particular would be very hard to duplicate as he had such a finessed, precise , and Effected way of speaking .
I imagine it also would’ve been quite difficult for all of those actors to clear their schedules so they could all show up at the same time. Pity, it would’ve been extremely cool!
Batman came out when I was in 5th grade and was one of my favorite shows plus I still enjoy it and appreciate the humor I missed as a kid. Thanks for sharing these details of this episode
Thanks Rick! I didn't know this about this near the end episode. I watched many of these episodes when they were first aired. I was 14 in 1968. We basically saw this show as a funny rendition of the Batman comic book. Campy and full of cult classicness.
Batman originally air twice a week in its first 2 seasons. It is said that Lost in Space became more campy midway thru their first season when the campy Batman started in same time slot opposite them. By the third season the night opposite LIS was dropped and Batman was on only once a week.
I was born in the early 80's (long after the series ended) and didn't get to see this episode until my mid 20's when I bought a bootleg DVD of the series made from episodes taped off of TV Land. But even with the low quality picture, it was still pretty obvious those weren't the original actors. 🤣
Since I have the entire series, I'll have to rewatch that episode because it does look like everybody in it but after looking at this, yeah it's definitely not who you think it is!! Anyway, glad to have you back on the air, you do such incredible videos
i dont remember the episode- but, i probably knew something was fishy. Thanks, Rick, for highlighting the liberties taken here. Maybe, these performers were the stunt doubles for the respective villains.....
No, I hadn't noticed it--but then again, the episode escapes my memory anyway. I see in the comments that they all were the stunt doubles for every villain. That's pretty cool!
We had to see the 1966 feature film to see the actual actors who portrayed Penguin, Joker, Riddler, Catwoman. Wikipedia lists the Budget at about a million and a half dollars, so they had the budget for Meredith, Romero, Gorshin and Meriwether (in for Newmar). Martin Grams BlogSpot lists the budget per episode at about 185 - 200,000 dollars. The running time of the feature was 104 minutes -- so roughly 3 episodes long, more or less. That would have been a budget of 600,000 dollars if a TV budget was used. They had nearly three times that for the feature film!!
Some of us already knew that i remember my family sitting around watching that episode and noticed how the villains didn't really look like the original actors who played all of Batman's arch nemesis at the same time some of us were second guessing ourselves about our suspicion's thank you for confirming this 👍
Hope you are all recovered Rick; I do remember this episode and thought why the added villians didn't speak; great topic and I am such a fan of Ida Lupino as she also directed movies.
Thanks for a fun and informative video as always. I watched a biography on I da Lupino once and she was one of the first female tv and film producers apart from Lucille Ball. Keep up the great work
I remember watching this episode recently and thinking the same thing: none of those villains where portrayed by their actual performers, they were all doubles and you can tell because Catwoman was performed by a white actress and by season three Eartha Kitt was playing Catwoman.
It was also not worth bringing in the original actors as their very very small scenes in this episode it wasn't worth coming back to film also most the episode they are invisible
I was wondering how they did that. When tv's had smaller picture tubes in the 60's it was quite convincing. I thought maybe because they didn't say much they were cheaper. The guy who played the Joker was real convincing even in your frozen frame of him.
Even with a large budget, without a lot of planning it would have maybe been hard to get them all together. Burgess Merideth was always in demand in movies and TV. Victor Buono was fun to watch on Wild Wild West and reading poetry on The Tonight show.
I never thought these were the original actors even as a kid. They used doubles in a lot of the scenes with Batman and Robin driving the batmobile as well.
Hello Rick, I did catch this, I remember thinking that the villians were just a little off. Just imagine how great the episode would have been had they been able to afford the real actors!!! It's fine to dream!! 👍👍
Yes, but we're talking about Cesar Romero, Burgess Meredith, Frank Gorshin, Victor Buono, Vincent Price and either Julie Newmar or Eartha Kitt. ABC would have balked at the budget necessary to land all those actors. Price was already a major horror film star.
Hi Rick....our awesome Eagle Eye Guy! 😃 No, I had not observed that stand-ins were used, but I truly had not seen this episode in forever. 🙂 So I definitely hadn't watched while looking to pick-up on interesting things (like I try to do when watching old episodes of different shows nowadays!). I love hearing your assessment of things...as always! You're spot on! Thanks for sharing all of these fun facts, Rick. So glad you are continuing to feel better. We'll get your ratings back up there for sure! And...I always watch your vids until the very end! ❤❤ ~Maura in Maryland~ 😊
I can't believe that anyone would think it was the actos who usually played the villains. I think fans sometimes don't live in the real world - where getting all the actors back for a VERY brief cameo actually makes financial sense. I always knew they weren't the original actors!
I was easily able to tell they were doubles, but since they were usually shot from the back, and then they were invisible, it was less noticeable. Biggest errors were a white actress again playing Catwoman where Eartha Kitt had played her all season 3 (and why was she in the cells along with male prisoners?) Also the makeup for Egghead did a poor job on the bald cap, had a lot or wrinkles and he wasn't as pale as they made Vincent Price.
While Earth Kitt was a lot of fun as Catwoman, I missed the romantic banter and sexual tension between Julie Newmar and Adam West. Network censors wouldn't allow Eartha and Adam to continue the attraction between Catwoman and Batman. It would have been fun to see Julie's Catwoman view Batgirl as a romantic rival for Batman.
The other interesting fact is that all the actors that played the villians toured the southwest US doing dinner theater until giving one final performance in the Elton John video I'm still standing one final time working their magic to resurrect John's career
I will have to watch this full episode again but I am wondering why all these arch villains would take a back seat and allow two unknowns to be in control
I remember seeing this on DVD most recently. This was an interesting episode and I realised on my last watch these weren't the real villains actors. The Frank Gorshin stand in was the clue for me. The hair and his character was not as energetic as the original Riddler, then seeing also if they were in the episode, their names would have to be written in the cast in the credits. Also, I remember hearing the fight scene for this episode was filmed completely in the dark for budget reasons. However, the comedic fight scene was always a novelty favourite of mine. Great memories. Thanks for the video. Keep them coming.
LOL for a few moments I thought that the last episode revealed that the villains were all figments of Batman's imagination throughout the series... LOL I used to watch since 1968, and never remembered that, nor did I know what the last episode was. As always, thank you for these wonderful videos.
In the credits, were the actors who played the villains listed or did they use the original actors names? Or did they not name the actors and the villains they were playing at all?
Whenever one of them appeared on the show, they would be credited over the opening scene as either guest villain or guest villainous. The villain couple at the beginning where credited like that, and the stand-ins were likely credited at the end of the episode.
I believe the stand-ins were not in the credits. Someone submitted the list to IMdb. Like I said before, I believe the fake Egghead was not Al Wyatt Sr. He stood in for Vincent Price in fight scenes in other episodes, but I read that Al Wyatt Sr was not present in the filming of this episode.
The stand ins where pretty convincing for the time. It would of been neat if this could of lead to a series of episodes where the trio goes around rounding them up.
Even as a kid, I figured out that these were not the real actors for these villains - and why. (It was kinda obvious that this was not Eartha Kitt. Nor was it Julie Newmar.) I remembered Vincent Price's stand-in doing a good job of imitating his movement as he and "King Tut" followed the others. Good video, btw. I also understood the risqué meaning in regard to Howard Duff's line, "What a pity."
Rick, I never saw this particular Batman episode but it is interesting how the show producers chintzed money wise to make it. Feel sorry for Adam West and Burt Ward they were in one of the hottest best tv series of the decade of the 60s, and they probably got very little salary wise to show for it. Long live the Batman tv show!
I heard they had to film Burt Ward in a different way for up close in that Robin suite because they couldn't shoot him showing his family jewels and had to cover it up.
We'd be outside playing until 4:30...that's when the Batman re-runs came on. Everyone would go inside and watch and then come out once it was over. We couldn't miss that...It was probably around 1975. Good times!
Love the work you do. Your outlook is so positive and optimistic. We certainly need that these days. Please keep doing the videos and as you say stay hopeful. You are appreciated.
Rick...even as a 12 year old I figured it out then. BTW, I loved Ida Lupino in everything she acted in & directed(Twilight Zone) (Columbo).Really liked the acting of Howard Duff (Kramer vs. Kramer) too!
It's the same phenomenon that occurred with the show Dexter. Everyone and their brother wanted to be on the show. They had to come up with villains for some. Others were okay with cameos. Some of the villains believe it or not actual characters from the comics but not all. I bought the series on DVD a few years back which didn't include the movies with Adam West and regular cast. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence to have stand ins for villains when doing the multivillan episodes. I liked John Astin but not as the joker.
Since Marilyn Watson played Catwoman in this episode, I guess you could say four actresses portrayed the character in the Batman '66 TV series. That would make a great (and difficult) trivia question.
That wasn't the important thing in this episode. We were cheated out of possibly the greatest Batman fight scene when they even the odds by shooting out the lights. Otherwise a nicely done episode, even for the 3rd season.
I think I have written this before, but here it is again: If the story, acting, directing, etc.are good to the point that I am captivated, I tend not to notice the mistakes excepting the glaring ones. So all those many years later, I haven’t noticed things like this. On the other hand, …
From the photo stills used here, the stunt doubles look quite a bit like the actors they portray. But the actor playing the Joker to me looks so much like Cesar Romero as the Joker, it's crazy.
I remember seeing this and didn't catch it right away. But I did finally. I remember as a kid saying wait ! That's not the penguin, that's not the joker !...I was mad...lol
Now this video brought back alot memories!!! I was glued to the TV when I was 6 years old and just loved every episode of Batman (now 62, still loving it). I read... somewhere...that since the show was ending, they just didn't have it in the budget to get all of the original actors to come back and some actors didn't want to do them anymore as they had moved on to other projects. Back then, we didn't have the ability to freeze frame like we do today, so as a kid, this little bit of creative licensing went right over this 6 year old head!!! Oh well... 😂... I'll admit it...I only watched because of Yvonne Craig....and the Batmobile!!! 😊
They used the Julie Newmar version of Catwoman, but Eartha Kitt had taken over the role by then. As a kid, I didn’t realize that they had used doubles. But it was obvious as an adult, even before I saw the scene where they released the villains. I didn’t see any of those actors wanting to do such a short cameo. They needed a whole movie to have just 4 villains. Plus’s half of the short time that they appear on screen, they’re invisible. It didn’t make any sense to hire the actual actors.
I remember watching this. when it first aired, and noticing something is off here. Those aren't the originals! They did a decent job with the doubles though.
Interesting that they went with the Julie Newmar version of Catwoman for this episode, when Eartha Kitt had been doing the role for the entire 3rd Season. Also, most of the Season 3 episodes were stand alone episodes, with a teaser tacked on at the end to entice the audience to tune in next time. The only exception is the multi-part Lord Ffogg episodes. The reason for this is that Season 3 switched the show from two nights a week to one night a week. There nearly was a 4th season of Batman, as NBC decided to pick up the show for the 68-69 season, but it was discovered that most of the sets had been destroyed after cancellation, and they didn't want to put out the money to rebuild the sets.
Rick, WE love YOU! Take care of yourself though! I too have slowed some activities here of late. Yep! That would have been a "hefty" payroll If all of that talent were in there. It's really funny though what the "bean counters" will let slide while something seemingly nonsensical will slip through the net. Thanks for the great video!
Hi, Rick. Love your videos. A little misleading title. The TV Show didn’t lie, they just teased. But the title worked because I clicked on it 😂 but the quality made me subscribe
@@ricknineg She was in an early episode of The Twilight Zone, and directed a season 5 episode. She is the only person who acted and directed in the original series!
As a kid I knew that wasn't the real King Tut by the way he was doing his head as he pounced out of the cell area, but that didn't matter to me at the time because I was too interested in what Batman was going to do
Thank you so much for the amazing support on this video! Many are asking who the actors really were. They were hard to find and relatively unknown and uncredited in the episode. Here are their names: Joker- Fred Carson, Albert Cavens-Penguin, Eddie Hice-Riddler, Marilyn Watson-Catwoman, Guy Way- King Tut, Al Wyatt Sr.-Egghead
Wow, my hat is off to you Rick, you were able to get the names of all the "fake" actors! Well done my friend!!! 👍👍
(PS, today is the Skippers birthday!!! 🎂)
The king of research crown goes to you! Great work! Thank you!
I figured they were not the usual cast since they were not showing them close up and had them sitting with thier backs to the camera.
“You idiots! You captured their stunt doubles!”
@@Cydonia2020 haha 😆
Read an article years ago that the stuntman who doubled for Adam West said that all of these "villians" were actually all of the stunt doubles for each of the actors that they would use. They were all brought back as a so-called curtain call for all their wonderful work and paid them all scale for their appearance. 🦇👍🏼 A great video!!
I figured they were the stand ins or stunt doubles. It makes sense that they were paid scale. It is nice that Dozier and team gave them a bit of a party for their work.
@@Bigbadwhitecracker So true.
I loved the Batman TV show. All the kids came to my house since we had a color TV and show was in color. I remember this episode. I never realized different actors played the characters.
Here's a fun one, King Tut was the only villain who found out that Batman was Bruce Wayne and it was Victor Buono last series appearance as the character. The backstory was he had been a mild mannered college history professor who got struck on the head during a campus protest making him believe he was King Tut. In the episode the character was about to reveal who Batman was when he was struck again rendering him unconscious and was back to his normal self again when he awoke. Since King Tut the villain was no more the character couldn't have returned having gone back to his previous life and it was a continuity error since he'd remember that Batman was Bruce Wayne...
He actually discovered Batman’s identity twice in the series but the first time he tried to publicly reveal it but Batman was able to have Bruce Wayne and Batman together at the same time by putting the joker’s robot thst he acquired in the Batsuit and make it look like Batman and used ventriloquism for the voice and Batman was there as Bruce Wayne
Good point.
I realized immediately that they were fake and also understood why. No problem with that.
What didn't sit well with me was that King Thut was in jail. At the end of all his episodes he would get knocked on the head, and revert back to his mild mannered egyptology professor self, who couldn't be arrested (and rightly so, imo) as he was absolutely innocent of the crimes of his evil alter ego.
He was probably my favorite villain, and I liked that he got to be a good guy again, after a good bash on the noggin!
Why was he in a cell? That was unfair!
Maybe King Tut had a relapse? Also, episodes weren't always shown in order so the filmmakers probably weren't too concerned abut it.
It was clear these weren't the originals... however, as a child I figured that prison life had its effects. Loved it anytime they showed the villains behind bars, real or otherwise. Great episode as ever, Mr. Nineg.
Matt C.-If I hadn't seen this video I wouldn't have believed it, because it looked like the villains were played by the original actors, instead of impostors.
Had to be one of the worst, cheesiest, goofy shows ever made, even in the 60s how did people turn it off after 5 minutes
@@breakingames7772 Because not everything has to be dark and gritty?
Yeah, prison life has its effects, alright, such as psychosis, muscles and tattoos!
Never relised one the b est
The best part of course is that all these "super villains" are being kept in adjoining cells and are still allowed to wear their costumes. I guess all they do all day is stand around and plot.
RIP, Adam West, and all of the other larger-than-life actors who brought us such great Bat-entertainment. They will live for eternity in re-runs and box sets.
I remember this as a kid, and I remember something seeming off, as they were filmed from behind more than you would expect, for having all these characters in an episode. And they used old audio tracks of their laughter, etc. instead of just having them give dialog.
Another telltale sign was that all the villains were invisible when they were performing their criminals deeds. Ida Lupino and Howard Duff had perfected an spray which rendered the criminals invisible.
I wonder if the actor standing in as Joker had a moustache - given Cesar Romero refused to shave his off when made up as Joker.
They didn't free their arch-villians!
They freed their stunt doubles!
Or stand-ins
Of course it was their stunt doubles , the real villains wern't gonna stand there and get punched in the face then get arrested . Remember kids , always have a fill in if ypu're gonna go to jail .
space balls
I get that reference
Nice space balls reference :)
I caught this on the reruns when when I was watching Batman you're right that would have been very expensive to have all these actors do this
I remember watching this episode for the first time when I was eight. I realized that something was "off" about the villains, but I enjoyed the episode anyway. By then, I had seen several War Movies where M47 and M48 tanks were used to portray Shermans and Panzers - as a model builder, I knew the difference - and was beginning to develop an appreciation for stand-ins when the real actor or prop wasn't available. Of course, with modern CGI, this isn't a problem, anymore . . . .
Thanks for posting this!
You must appreciate the signage on this show. "Arch Criminals Only: All Others Keep Out."
😆
The same sign is at the entrance to the U.N.
Also everything in the Batcave is labeled or has a sign on it
'Vault of rare old books'
'Let gayfellow take you to the cleaners'
'Giant penguin magnet'
and many many more lol
All those gadgets on the utility belts worn by the Dynamic Duo, were also clearly labeled.
Fun Fact: Arkham Asylum wasn’t introduced to the Batman mythology until October 1974 in Issue 258 of his titular comic book series, so before then it was literally just a State Penitentiary (also distinct from Blackgate Penitentiary, which was introduced in May 1991’s Detective Comics Issue 629).
Sounds like a couple of cool books to pick up
Yeah, I did catch it...but years later. However, I caught the Catwoman stand in right away. For one, by this time, Eartha Kitt was Catwoman for season 3, not Meriwether or Newmar.
I recently read this was a thank you of sorts to the stand-ins/stunt doubles. I think it was clever to use them especially since there weren’t as many fight scenes in the last season.
This happens a lot in TV shows where the actors get paid more money than the show can budget. Even though Lynda Carters Wonder Woman didn't have standard villains, she herself had stand-ins, body doubles, and prop people, instead of the production company making video duplicates of her.
Lots of TV shows that had big name stars as guests would also use look alikes in later episodes because the original star was indisposed.
I saw that episode and already knew those were other people playing the villains, NOT the real stars!
Well, once you slowed things down, it was easier to tell they were fakes. They did actually get the authentic actors for the 1966 Batman movie, except Julie Newmar wasn't available. I saw most of the episodes the first time around, but don't quite remember this one. Great job as always, Rick.
That is correct but in some scenes the stunt person can be seen visibly especially frank gorshin’s stunt man in fight scenes like in the apartment fight and the deck of the submarine fight
Love the shot of the 3 leads in costume. I was geekin` out like a 10-year-old at how comic-book like it was. That was beautiful.
The thing that made me wonder the most about the episode (long after the fact in reruns) was if 20th Century Fox ever marketed those cardboard cutouts of Batman, Robin and Batgirl? This was in the 90s and those types of life sized novelties were becoming pupolar all over again!
I find it funny that the villains on shows like this were allowed to wear their costumes while in prison. Often, or most likely, not only are their costumes removed, they are usually given a hair cut and prison clothing, but also very likely moved to different facilities if they are related in any way. That was too much of a setup for an escape and getting back to their work by just walking out of the building!
Gotham City never really had a great prison system. The incarcerated villains always seemed to escape every few weeks or so lol
I was only 9 years old when this episode aired so I'm pretty sure I missed the imposters. I will catch them on the reruns thanks to you Rick!
They did a great job with the “fake” villains and budget-wise it makes sense. As always, thank you for another interesting video:)
Thanks so much Jen!
It was not Arkham. DC Comics didn't "borrow" the name of HP Lovecraft's city in Massachusetts for it's insane asylum until the 1970s.
Also, the 3rd season episodes, i.e. the Batgirl episodes, were not filmed or shown in pairs.
The look-a-like actors are pretty good! Now I want to binge the Batman series ... 1👍
Using doubles (as well as the fight scene filmed in pitch darkness) was a way to save money. The doubles had appeared in earlier Batman episodes as stunt doubles or uncredited henchmen, according to imdb. I noticed King Tut's double right away, as you see more of his face.
yah and then they all turn invisible for the big battle at the end.
This idea works better in animated format where you can draw any one you want and just voice them over.
Let's also remember at the time these shows were broadcast, eventhough shot on film, they were meant to be shown in standard-definitiontelevision, therefore resolution & clarity of an image was never meant for the HD TV sets we have today.
Hey Rick, I knew that these major supervillains that were either shot from behind or in silhouette weren't the actual actors. But it was very clever for them to use their body doubles instead, as well as unused audio recordings of the actual actors from earlier shoots for the series. Cesar Romero's body double as The Joker. Burgess Meredith's body double as The Penguin. Frank Gorshin's body double as The Riddler. Lee Meriwether's body double as The Catwoman. Vincent Price's body double as Egghead. Victor Buono's body double as King Tut.
I actually never noticed that myself. I was around 7 years old when Bat Man aired ,and I continued to watch the re-runs well into my teens. I will have to go back and see if they used any "OLD" voice over tracks for the artists . Vincent Price's voice in particular would be very hard to duplicate as he had such a finessed, precise , and Effected way of speaking .
I imagine it also would’ve been quite difficult for all of those actors to clear their schedules so they could all show up at the same time.
Pity, it would’ve been extremely cool!
Batman came out when I was in 5th grade and was one of my favorite shows plus I still enjoy it and appreciate the humor I missed as a kid. Thanks for sharing these details of this episode
Much appreciated
Thanks Rick!
I didn't know this about this near the end episode.
I watched many of these episodes when they were first aired.
I was 14 in 1968.
We basically saw this show as a funny rendition of the Batman comic book.
Campy and full of cult classicness.
Batman originally air twice a week in its first 2 seasons. It is said that Lost in Space became more campy midway thru their first season when the campy Batman started in same time slot opposite them. By the third season the night opposite LIS was dropped and Batman was on only once a week.
I was born in the early 80's (long after the series ended) and didn't get to see this episode until my mid 20's when I bought a bootleg DVD of the series made from episodes taped off of TV Land. But even with the low quality picture, it was still pretty obvious those weren't the original actors. 🤣
Since I have the entire series, I'll have to rewatch that episode because it does look like everybody in it but after looking at this, yeah it's definitely not who you think it is!! Anyway, glad to have you back on the air, you do such incredible videos
Thank you kindly, James
i dont remember the episode- but, i probably knew something was fishy. Thanks, Rick, for highlighting the liberties taken here. Maybe, these performers were the stunt doubles for the respective villains.....
No, I hadn't noticed it--but then again, the episode escapes my memory anyway. I see in the comments that they all were the stunt doubles for every villain. That's pretty cool!
Glad you’re feeling better Rick! Another great video 👍
I've seen this episode and was suspicious about them being real but thanks for confirming it. That was a good episode!! ⭐
We had to see the 1966 feature film to see the actual actors who portrayed Penguin, Joker, Riddler, Catwoman. Wikipedia lists the Budget at about a million and a half dollars, so they had the budget for Meredith, Romero, Gorshin and Meriwether (in for Newmar). Martin Grams BlogSpot lists the budget per episode at about 185 - 200,000 dollars. The running time of the feature was 104 minutes -- so roughly 3 episodes long, more or less. That would have been a budget of 600,000 dollars if a TV budget was used. They had nearly three times that for the feature film!!
Some of us already knew that i remember my family sitting around watching that episode and noticed how the villains didn't really look like the original actors who played all of Batman's arch nemesis at the same time some of us were second guessing ourselves about our suspicion's thank you for confirming this 👍
Hope you are all recovered Rick; I do remember this episode and thought why the added villians didn't speak; great topic and I am such a fan of Ida Lupino as she also directed movies.
They just used old audio to say a few words, giggles, laughs, quacks here and there to make it seem more authentic.
Thanks for a fun and informative video as always. I watched a biography on I da Lupino once and she was one of the first female tv and film producers apart from Lucille Ball. Keep up the great work
Even though I was only in 3rd grade, by S3, I wasn’t watching Batman.
It’s cool to see another Batman video. Keep up the great work Rick!
They probably just used the stand-ins (aka camera doubles) they normally used for lighting and camera setups for the villain of the week.
I remember watching this episode recently and thinking the same thing: none of those villains where portrayed by their actual performers, they were all doubles and you can tell because Catwoman was performed by a white actress and by season three Eartha Kitt was playing Catwoman.
It was also not worth bringing in the original actors as their very very small scenes in this episode it wasn't worth coming back to film also most the episode they are invisible
My continuity question is why are all the villains' still in their street clothes / costumes. You would think they would be in prison cloths...
For real because The Joker wore a prison uniform while playing baseball in one episode.
I was wondering how they did that. When tv's had smaller picture tubes in the 60's it was quite convincing. I thought maybe because they didn't say much they were cheaper. The guy who played the Joker was real convincing even in your frozen frame of him.
As a kid I remember thinking how odd it was that none of them spoke in this episode.
Even with a large budget, without a lot of planning it would have maybe been hard to get them all together. Burgess Merideth was always in demand in movies and TV. Victor Buono was fun to watch on Wild Wild West and reading poetry on The Tonight show.
I never thought these were the original actors even as a kid. They used doubles in a lot of the scenes with Batman and Robin driving the batmobile as well.
I would have never known, WOW! Thank You!
Hello Rick, I did catch this, I remember thinking that the villians were just a little off. Just imagine how great the episode would have been had they been able to afford the real actors!!! It's fine to dream!! 👍👍
Yes, but we're talking about Cesar Romero, Burgess Meredith, Frank Gorshin, Victor Buono, Vincent Price and either Julie Newmar or Eartha Kitt. ABC would have balked at the budget necessary to land all those actors. Price was already a major horror film star.
Hi Rick....our awesome Eagle Eye Guy! 😃 No, I had not observed that stand-ins were used, but I truly had not seen this episode in forever. 🙂 So I definitely hadn't watched while looking to pick-up on interesting things (like I try to do when watching old episodes of different shows nowadays!). I love hearing your assessment of things...as always! You're spot on! Thanks for sharing all of these fun facts, Rick. So glad you are continuing to feel better. We'll get your ratings back up there for sure! And...I always watch your vids until the very end! ❤❤ ~Maura in Maryland~ 😊
I can't believe that anyone would think it was the actos who usually played the villains. I think fans sometimes don't live in the real world - where getting all the actors back for a VERY brief cameo actually makes financial sense. I always knew they weren't the original actors!
I was easily able to tell they were doubles, but since they were usually shot from the back, and then they were invisible, it was less noticeable. Biggest errors were a white actress again playing Catwoman where Eartha Kitt had played her all season 3 (and why was she in the cells along with male prisoners?) Also the makeup for Egghead did a poor job on the bald cap, had a lot or wrinkles and he wasn't as pale as they made Vincent Price.
Catwoman goes to the same Prison she has a cameo in the prison in the Ma Parker episode
@@CrackanutBar True, but she should have been in the same block as the male villains.
While Earth Kitt was a lot of fun as Catwoman, I missed the romantic banter and sexual tension between Julie Newmar and Adam West. Network censors wouldn't allow Eartha and Adam to continue the attraction between Catwoman and Batman. It would have been fun to see Julie's Catwoman view Batgirl as a romantic rival for Batman.
The other interesting fact is that all the actors that played the villians toured the southwest US doing dinner theater until giving one final performance in the Elton John video I'm still standing one final time working their magic to resurrect John's career
Never knew that
I love this series - I've never seen this episode, so thanks for the heads up. I've got the blu-ray set, so maybe it's time to see that one.
Batman
Batgirl
Robin
King Tut
Joker
Riddler
Catwoman
Penguin
Egghead (DC Comics)
I will have to watch this full episode again but I am wondering why all these arch villains would take a back seat and allow two unknowns to be in control
I remember seeing this on DVD most recently. This was an interesting episode and I realised on my last watch these weren't the real villains actors. The Frank Gorshin stand in was the clue for me. The hair and his character was not as energetic as the original Riddler, then seeing also if they were in the episode, their names would have to be written in the cast in the credits. Also, I remember hearing the fight scene for this episode was filmed completely in the dark for budget reasons. However, the comedic fight scene was always a novelty favourite of mine. Great memories. Thanks for the video. Keep them coming.
LOL for a few moments I thought that the last episode revealed that the villains were all figments of Batman's imagination throughout the series... LOL I used to watch since 1968, and never remembered that, nor did I know what the last episode was. As always, thank you for these wonderful videos.
The plot for the next Batman movie: He was so traumatized by seeing his parents killed as a kid, he's been imagining all this in his hospital room...
In the credits, were the actors who played the villains listed or did they use the original actors names? Or did they not name the actors and the villains they were playing at all?
Whenever one of them appeared on the show, they would be credited over the opening scene as either guest villain or guest villainous. The villain couple at the beginning where credited like that, and the stand-ins were likely credited at the end of the episode.
I believe the stand-ins were not in the credits. Someone submitted the list to IMdb. Like I said before, I believe the fake Egghead was not Al Wyatt Sr. He stood in for Vincent Price in fight scenes in other episodes, but I read that Al Wyatt Sr was not present in the filming of this episode.
The stand ins where pretty convincing for the time. It would of been neat if this could of lead to a series of episodes where the trio goes around rounding them up.
When I initially watched this episode, I knew it wasn't the Joker because the one depicted didn't have a mustache!
Even as a kid, I figured out that these were not the real actors for these villains - and why. (It was kinda obvious that this was not Eartha Kitt. Nor was it Julie Newmar.) I remembered Vincent Price's stand-in doing a good job of imitating his movement as he and "King Tut" followed the others.
Good video, btw.
I also understood the risqué meaning in regard to Howard Duff's line, "What a pity."
Wow something I never realized 😳 I will need to see the Blu ray version. Great job Rick.
Thank you!
Thank you! I’ve provided the HD screen captures for you. Enjoy!
Such a fantastic video and a great look into how these shows were made. This is a great reason of why I love this channel.
Rick, I never saw this particular Batman episode but it is interesting how the show producers chintzed money wise to make it. Feel sorry for Adam West and Burt Ward they were in one of the hottest best tv series of the decade of the 60s, and they probably got very little salary wise to show for it. Long live the Batman tv show!
I heard they had to film Burt Ward in a different way for up close in that Robin suite because they couldn't shoot him showing his family jewels and had to cover it up.
We'd be outside playing until 4:30...that's when the Batman re-runs came on. Everyone would go inside and watch and then come out once it was over. We couldn't miss that...It was probably around 1975. Good times!
Thanks for letting me know 🐱
Love the work you do. Your outlook is so positive and optimistic. We certainly need that these days. Please keep doing the videos and as you say stay hopeful. You are appreciated.
Thank you so much. It means a lot to receive messages like this
Rick...even as a 12 year old I figured it out then. BTW, I loved Ida Lupino in everything she acted in & directed(Twilight Zone) (Columbo).Really liked the acting of Howard Duff (Kramer vs. Kramer) too!
Probably because they were saving the original criminals for The Batman Movie!
*Great Scott!*
Batman
Batgirl
Robin
King Tut
Joker
Riddler
Catwoman
Penguin
I don't even remember this episode! Now I gotta go check it out!
I didn't catch that they weren't the real villains until I was well into my 20s. lol
Haha, hey that’s pretty good
@@ricknineg I think so too lol
Happy you are feeling better! ❤️
It's the same phenomenon that occurred with the show Dexter. Everyone and their brother wanted to be on the show. They had to come up with villains for some. Others were okay with cameos. Some of the villains believe it or not actual characters from the comics but not all. I bought the series on DVD a few years back which didn't include the movies with Adam West and regular cast. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence to have stand ins for villains when doing the multivillan episodes. I liked John Astin but not as the joker.
Since Marilyn Watson played Catwoman in this episode, I guess you could say four actresses portrayed the character in the Batman '66 TV series. That would make a great (and difficult) trivia question.
That wasn't the important thing in this episode. We were cheated out of possibly the greatest Batman fight scene when they even the odds by shooting out the lights. Otherwise a nicely done episode, even for the 3rd season.
I think I have written this before, but here it is again: If the story, acting, directing, etc.are good to the point that I am captivated, I tend not to notice the mistakes excepting the glaring ones. So all those many years later, I haven’t noticed things like this. On the other hand, …
From the photo stills used here, the stunt doubles look quite a bit like the actors they portray. But the actor playing the Joker to me looks so much like Cesar Romero as the Joker, it's crazy.
I remember noticing this when I rewatched the series on DVD.
I remember seeing this and didn't catch it right away. But I did finally. I remember as a kid saying wait ! That's not the penguin, that's not the joker !...I was mad...lol
Now this video brought back alot memories!!! I was glued to the TV when I was 6 years old and just loved every episode of Batman (now 62, still loving it). I read... somewhere...that since the show was ending, they just didn't have it in the budget to get all of the original actors to come back and some actors didn't want to do them anymore as they had moved on to other projects. Back then, we didn't have the ability to freeze frame like we do today, so as a kid, this little bit of creative licensing went right over this 6 year old head!!! Oh well... 😂... I'll admit it...I only watched because of Yvonne Craig....and the Batmobile!!! 😊
Lovely nostalgia
They used the Julie Newmar version of Catwoman, but Eartha Kitt had taken over the role by then. As a kid, I didn’t realize that they had used doubles. But it was obvious as an adult, even before I saw the scene where they released the villains. I didn’t see any of those actors wanting to do such a short cameo. They needed a whole movie to have just 4 villains. Plus’s half of the short time that they appear on screen, they’re invisible. It didn’t make any sense to hire the actual actors.
I remember watching this. when it first aired, and noticing something is off here. Those aren't the originals!
They did a decent job with the doubles though.
Interesting that they went with the Julie Newmar version of Catwoman for this episode, when Eartha Kitt had been doing the role for the entire 3rd Season. Also, most of the Season 3 episodes were stand alone episodes, with a teaser tacked on at the end to entice the audience to tune in next time. The only exception is the multi-part Lord Ffogg episodes. The reason for this is that Season 3 switched the show from two nights a week to one night a week. There nearly was a 4th season of Batman, as NBC decided to pick up the show for the 68-69 season, but it was discovered that most of the sets had been destroyed after cancellation, and they didn't want to put out the money to rebuild the sets.
This was easy to see even back then. Nice that you shine a light on it for people today.
Absolutely!
Rick, WE love YOU! Take care of yourself though! I too have slowed some activities here of late. Yep! That would have been a "hefty" payroll If all of that talent were in there. It's really funny though what the "bean counters" will let slide while something seemingly nonsensical will slip through the net. Thanks for the great video!
Hi, Rick. Love your videos.
A little misleading title. The TV Show didn’t lie, they just teased. But the title worked because I clicked on it 😂 but the quality made me subscribe
Ida Lupino was not only an actress, but she was one of the first female directors in Hollywood! She directed many tv shows as well as some movies!
Yes she was. She directed many Gilligan’s island episodes
@@ricknineg Yeah! "Have Gun Will Travel" and "Hogan's Heroes" as well!
@@ricknineg She was in an early episode of The Twilight Zone, and directed a season 5 episode. She is the only person who acted and directed in the original series!
I definitely caught this as a kid, great episode!
Agreed!
As a kid I knew that wasn't the real King Tut by the way he was doing his head as he pounced out of the cell area, but that didn't matter to me at the time because I was too interested in what Batman was going to do