clavierankh wrote:Regarding last night's episode s "A Piece Of The Action"/"Batman's Satisfaction". These are the only episodes where the villain isn't front and center. This made Gumm's plot seem shallow and unfocused, because the villain had fewer scenes than usual.
Gumm was the wrong villain, and his crime simlly too small. When you have a script loaded with no less than
four heroes, TPB needed a villain and conflict worthy of the attention. They had such a template in the
Batman movie, where 4 villains required a larger threat that keeps the heroes running/struggling until the climax.
The missed to-do list:
1. Instead of a made-for-TV villain, the crossover should have used the Joker--only a sensible scripter would suggest Romero play it as in his 1st appearance, where there was a sinister edge to the criminal clown act. Romero was sharp, and could trade barbs with constumed enemies easily, while we--the audience--would find him a believable opponent (again, if in 1st appearance form).
2. Stunts. First-run friends have told me over the years that in 1966/67, a Robin vs. Kato fight was THE desired happening they wanted to see on the show, but as exciting as the fight was (overall), the PTB should have asked Ward and Lee to work out
something involving more martial arts (within reason). Ward had displayed his own training from time to time on the show and movie, so of all times to incorporate it in a Batfight, this would have been it.
3. A three-parter might have served this crossover well, and allowed for more true identity scenes, or more time dedicated to the villain's motivation/crime set-up.
I don't know how good a vehicle this episode was as a crossover to attract viewers to The Green Hornet. The shows were very different with GH taking itself much more seriously than Batman. I remember the first time I saw Green Hornet. I expected it to be more like Batman and I was a little disappointed. I grew to like the Hornet watching it in syndication. It's sort of like doing a cross over between Addams Family ad Dark Shadows or Mission Impossible and Get Smart. While you might have fans who like both shows, they like them for different reasons and merging the two is difficult.
The difference in the Dozier series is that unlike
Get Smart to
M:I,
Batman was not a sitcom next to a straight action/drama series. Batman did not start out as
My Favorite Martian or
The Munsters. If one looks at more than half of
Batman's 1st season, it was not outlandish enough that anyone would think it impossible for a crossover. In fact, one of the reasons why the crossover happened at all was the strong interest from the two series' fanbases, as comparisons were as common as the sun rising.
