Watched a few episode of the orignal Batman show (Teletoon retro marathon) last night, and now...

It's on here in the UK but the villains aren't what I remember as a kid. Our re-runs we're always Joker, Riddler, Penguin, etc. Every time I turn it on here it's Egghead or Bookworm.

Seriously? Who the fuck are those guys?

I saw 1 last night with "the Mad Hatter". I did not remember him either. Still the show was entertaining.

We're getting the Batman reruns here in Canada on Teletoon Retro, but the station appears to be confining itself to the first season episodes. I have a feeling it has to do with the same kind of rights limbo that is keeping the show from being released on DVD (see [link to en.wikipedia.org] particularly with regard to cameos such as those in the "Bat-Climb" scenes.

Until VCRs started becoming available, no one in the film and TV industry could conceive of the idea of motion pictures and episodic TV as becoming a gold mine for video releases. In the 1960s, for example, studios felt that their series would be worth little on the rerun market beyond a few years, and so when they produced these series, they included clauses in the actors' contracts that stipulated residual payments for only so many sets of reruns. Series such as Get Smart, The Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched, and even The Flintstones have been easy to sell on the rerun market AND release on DVD because they stuck to the core cast/semi-regulars/guest star format and rarely, if ever, featured cameos, at least on the level that Batman did. In the first season of Batman there is only one wall cameo, done by Jerry Lewis. The remainder of the wall cameos are in the second and third seasons of the show (I understand that of these, a couple of cameos involve characters from The Addams Family and The Green Hornet, so there are doubtless rights issues with those shows and/or characters as well). I have a feeling that it's this, more than anything else, that is keeping Teletoon Retro from airing the second and third seasons of the show, simply because it's easier from a rights standpoint to stick with the season that causes the fewest legal headaches.

I wasn't around yet when Batman first started airing, but I do remember with fondness certain moments from the second and third seasons, which I caught in reruns in the mid-1970s: Batman having to change cowls after his original one gets turned pink by the Mad Hatter; Batman having to spell his name over the phone in Commissioner Gordon's office; Commissioner Gordon being on the phone with either the Joker or the Penguin (I've forgotten which) on one line and Batman via the Bat-Phone, and having to hold the two handsets to each other so Batman can talk directly to the villain; and Batman and Robin singing their way out of the player piano roll factory. I miss being able to see those episodes again.

However, all is not lost: the first season features the Catwoman episodes "The Purr-fect Crime" and "Better Luck Next Time". (I have both versions of the View-Master adaptation of this episode pair, and had the pleasure of meeting Julie Newmar at a convention a couple of weeks ago.) And with Teletoon Retro airing only the first season, I get to see more frequently the first Riddler two-parter and the Zelda episodes--it's interesting to see the differences between these episodes and the rest of the series, because it provides some insight as to alternate directions the show might have gone in.

When I first noticed Teletoon Retro confining itself to the first season, I used to think they would wear it out in strip syndication. Fortunately, there are enough episodes in the first season to make it worthwhile. At least it's better than if, say, only 22 episodes had been produced and the station had to repeat the loop every three weeks or so.