#193 Batman - Star Trek ACT-OFF, pt. 1

09/15/22 • 76 min

To The Batpoles! Batman 1966

Two of the most iconic American TV shows of the 1960s are Batman and Star Trek. A surprising number of actors pulled double duty, appearing on both shows, either as regulars, recurring characters, or one-shot roles.

This crossover of actors sounds like an interesting topic, but how do we get it into our show? What we settled on was to put these actors in March Madness-type brackets and pit them against each other. On which show did a given actor give the better performance? And how does their performance stack up against one of the other actors’?

For part one of this exercise, we compare Stanley Adams (Cyrano Jones on Trek, Captain Courageous on Batman) to Julie Newmar (Eleen on Trek, Catwoman on Batman), and Joan Collins (Edith Keeler on Trek, the Siren on Batman) to Yvonne Craig (Marta on Trek, Batgirl on Batman). We’re joined in this exercise by our childhood friend Kyle, who grew up a Trek fan.

PLUS: the Chuck Cirino version of the theme, Adam and Burt on the Merv Griffin Show in 1966, and we read your mail!

In four weeks, we'll talk about the draft script of "A Piece of the Action"!

Comment about the script on the Bat Message Board

PLUS: the Chuck Cirino version of the theme, Adam and Burt on the Merv Griffin Show in 1966, and we read your mail!

In four weeks, we'll talk about the draft script of "A Piece of the Action"!

Comment about the script on the Bat Message Board

Previous Episode

#192 Mercy alive! It’s Madge Blake!

When talking about Batman, discussion tends to focus on Adam West, Burt Ward, and those who played villains who the Dynamic Duo brought to justice. But here we’ve done nearly 200 episodes and mostly missed someone whose name is in the opening credits for the first two seasons: Madge Blake. So this time we’ve dug in to see what we could learn about this woman who started acting late in life, charmed fellow actors but frustrated some directors, and worked with Jack Benny, Vincente Minnelli, Gene Kelly, and more.

We also take a look at her Batman character, Aunt Harriet: her origins in the comics, how the TV and comics versions differed, and what we can tell about the TV version based on her scenes; there’s more to know there than you might think!

ALSO: the Mr. Tabs guitar tutorial version of the Batman theme, Vincent Price and Adam watch themselves in a Batman clip on the Mike Douglas Show, Holy Deja Vu asks “Who was Milton Stark?”, and we once again visit the Bat Inbox.

Madge Blake articles in Today's Health Magazine from March 1960

Madge on the Jack Benny Show

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Next Episode

#194 Susan Silo: Mousey and much more!

You know her as Mousey in A Riddle a Day Keeps the Riddler Away, but did you know that Susan Silo has been a sought-after character voice actor for cartoons since the ‘70s? Or that she had a hit single in 1956 ("Dear Diary") and performed on American Bandstand? Or that she’s performed on Broadway? Or that her high school English teacher became a huge TV star in the ‘70s? This time we chat with Susan herself about all this and more!

Plus, the Villains’ version of the Batman theme, more of Adam and Burt on Merv Griffin, and Holy Deja Vu visits Stalag 13!

NOTE: The production error in this episode has been fixed. Sorry about that!