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From: ukbatmania
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  • this video with adam west and burt ward was really cool[no camp invovled]. batmans mask was better,tallet boots, and 40,s bat enbelm]. so cool.wish the tv series stuck with it. but, i love it still. thankx for sharing

  • If they remade this show to be a little less corny it would definitaly be an amazing show

  • West is the Best!

  • Karate = breaking a board with your hand.

  • This is way more grown up and less campy than the series proper. This could've been brilliant.

  • Wow. Terrible lighting for the tests, especially the Batcave scene. It looks like they're making a Frankenstein movie.

  • Adam West and Burt Ward are awesome!! If a Batman beyond movie were ever to be made Adam West could play an old Bruce Wayne.

  • Adam West Bruce Wayne talking about his parents death...how cool

  • Wow they are halfway serious..less camp

  • Batman costume was sweet! I wonder why they changed the emblem to something the looked like a sticker. Plus it was cool seeing Robin chopping boards and throwing guys!!

  • gOO LORD D.I.C.K.?? HAHA

  • i bet the papers just had lines on them

  • She was not thinking about James Eric Gardener, the noted poet, protestor, and Thanksgiving wifeshooter, who was currently standing in a lecture hall at Northeastern University under these lights with five other poets and some fat shit named Arberg or Arglebargle or something like that, and getting ready to faint.

  • Since they can't release the series on DVD due to legal and rights issues, they should include these screen tests in the next edition of the 1966 movie. Burt's version of Robin looks like he just came right out of the comics. I wonder what Burt's reaction is to Dick being Batman in the current comics.

  • I wish during the series there had been some batcave scenes filmed with Batman and Robin without there masks, like there was in the screen test. I never understood why it was necessary to were their masks in the batcave. The episode where Batman's cowl was radioactively contaminated by would have been a good episode for Batman to remove his cape and cowl, while in the batcave.

  • burton gervis??

  • @jsilence418 It's Burt Ward's real name.

  • When she finds out what you've been doing on these supposed fishing trips, the BLOW will kill her?

    This show came out when everybody was doing blow......maybe they were druggin it up in the batcave

  • Wow, this is so much better than the Waggoner/Deyell test. West's phrasing and delivery is so superior. An easy decision for Dozier.

  • I like the darker sparcer-decorated Batcave and Batman's old school costume. BTW, what was that stuff at the end?

  • Why isn't the Batman tv series with Adam West and Burt Ward on DVD yet?

  • Adam West looks relatively fit, the black bat chest on the costume looks cooler than the yellow oval version, the Batcave looks darker and gloomier than it was on the actual TV show(or just poorly lit), and most surprisingly, there's a reference to the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents---an important part of the Batman mythos that the show glossed over! All in all, a fascinating glimpse of where the '60's TV show might have been like if its campy approach hadn't been QUITE as pronounced.

  • @DoctorPretorious616 I remember there was one episode where the murder of the Waynes was mentioned and it was the reason that Bruce refused to use a gun under any circumstances.

  • @DoctorPretorious616 If they went this route, it would have been like The Green Hornet tv series. I have to admit, The Green Hornet was not that bad of a series. I just did not understand why they did not keep it going. Sorry about talking about another tv show on here, I was just saying. Great first look at what Batman would have been like if they did not make it campy, as you mentioned.

  • Adam West called me when I was in the hospital...but he called the Nurse's Desk and a nurse came in my room and said "There's a man who says he is BATMAN on the phone--do you know a Batman?" LOL I isaid--YEAH--hang me the batphone, Adam was a funny man lol

  • One of the greatest crime series of all times. There isnt one person that alive that doesnt know about the cape crusaders.

  • adam west is rude arrogant and has no care for any of his fans. I met him personally and he was rude. wouldnt even shake my hand

  • @goodKnight3100 -- I met him a week ago a comic con here in Atlanta (Wizard World).. He was very cool and actually shook mine and my buddy's hands.. And a "fist bump," LOL! He was pretty cool and even signed my mask memorabilia. I have to admit, I had heard horror stories on the net about him also and how he can be sometimes so that thought WAS in the back of my mind. Luckily we were the first in line so we met him while he was still "fresh" before tiring from meeting all the fans, lol...

  • @GoGoFiasco Yeah thats a shock I went to chicago comic con and Burt Ward talked my ear off but I was more interested in meeting adam west. I got my picture taken with them thats when I met him met him but I was not holding it against him I think he is just getting old and time changes him. He will still be one of the greatest batman. I think they should give him a cameo in the newest movie him and burt somehow

  • @goodKnight3100 I totally agree that they should give him and Burt cameo roles, I mean come on!!! Isn't that in the unspoken hero manual somewhere? "If the original is still around when a remake is made 'Thou Shall Cast Him In The Remake!'" I know it's written in there somewhere. But, all in all, he was my childhood hero, so cranky or not, I was determined to meet him--and have a good encounter!

  • @goodKnight3100 You may have caught him at a bad time.

  • Adam west is the coolest......cutest and the best Bruce Wayne...and the Batman....such a vioce and what a great voice

  • Comparing the two screen tests, they clearly made the right choice. Waggoner and Deyell put no emotion at all into the scene in the study, and, in fact, seemed bored by the whole thing... as a result, I was as well. West and Ward, however, are actually bothering to act, and as a result, it's enjoyable!

  • I think there was hidden gay messages in there: Lord Dick and holy cabose !

  • Adam West plays it kinda corny here, but this show was supposed to be camp (funny). I first saw him on Bewitched and The Outer Limits. I think he is actually quite a good actor.

  • great, adam west was fit here and it is say that his parents were murdered.

  • Wow this is not as campy as the actual show. More dark and the mention of his parents murder, well thats different. Still the show was awsome :p

  • The design, mood, batman's cowl, the batcave...all vastly superior to the finished version...He mentions the murder of his parents?! Never in the show that I remember. His identity exposed??! This would have been cool.

  • @thebarrens he did mention his parents murder in the first episode..

  • Adam West is a great actor

    it's a shame that no-one took him seriously after this

    FUCK FAMILY GUY

    also, Peter Deyell (see the other screen test) may not have had Burt's enthusiasm, but he was a more convincing fighter

  • Man, compared to the Lyle Waggoner and Peter Deyell Test, you can really see why Adam and Burt were chosen. Their energy is completely different. They're exciting!

  • Adam West the last great gentleman.

    Square jaw,heroic looks,he loved every beautiful women on that show.

    Best Bruce Wayne ever,almost a James Bond.Would be better than that wimpy Roger Moore

  • @ThatSoRandom100 At a symposium for the show for the Museum of Broadcasting, Adam and the producer stated that there were blooper reels from the show, but their whereabouts are unknown. Too bad.

  • As much as I loved this series I love the tone and feel of this. And they never mentioned Bruce's parents murder in the series did they?

  • @RichYan33 Bruce made an off-hand comment about it in the first episode.

  • What a great find! Burton Gervis as Robin (before he became Burt Ward). Aunt Harriet was originally Mrs. Cooper, the housekeeper. Even Batman's costume was different. One of the things that made this show great was there was no laugh track, and they good get no one better than West and Ward for the roles.

  • Where in this world did you get these videos from??????????

  • The show didnt stay the same. The 3rd season dropped the cliffhangers &the production quality went from great to none. Look @ this scene. This scene is typical of what was great about the show. Great set, lighting, West and Ward act like its a serious show. 3rd season was all out zany. Sets? 3rd season had props on a floor with no walls. The shows producers and cast never admitted the lack of quality = cancellation. But it did.

  • Campy but funny. Watched every episode in the 70's - i love reruns

  • Burt Ward was way over qualified for this role! Hahahahaha, I am so glad he got it!

  • holy family guy - that's mayor adam west!

    what a treat, the best batman by 60 billion light years, the only one for me!

  • adam west = adam west

    nobody compares

  • Also, the Batcave looks far better here, in my opinion, than what actually appeared in the series. I agree with a previous poster that Batman's symbol looks more like a bird than a bat, but I still like the symbol minus the yellow oval.

  • Interesting. It seems the screen tests were a lot less campy in tone. Would have been interesting to see a series more like this.

  • adam gervis? who? is that what became 'ward'?

  • Burt Ward's real last name was Gervis. Hadn't chosen stage name of Ward at the time tests were made.

  • if it were sooo dam gay joke/campy ~ mite have been more interestin ~

  • West pretty much take over the camera compared to Waggoner's stiff acting and more serious take on the character. I still think a more serious take on Batman, Waggoner would have been closer to the character.

    Also a duo of Waggoner and Ward would have been interesting to see.

  • by far Ward and West are far superior actors!

  • Good thing they changed the symbol on Batman's chest. This one looks like a crow splattered on a window.

  • The Batcave looks so different in the screen test. in a way it reminds me of the way it looked in Lego Batman: The Video Game.

  • Compare West and Ward to the Waggoner screen test - no comparison. Adam West was perfect for the role.

  • That's a really cool post! Thank you fellow crime fighting citizen!

  • Maybee because I am use to these two but their screen test was much better. Where was this scene filmed at?

  • adam west had the best voice...they were batman and robin NO DOUBT about it..... burt ward looks like peterpan with out the cape..it kinda weird without the background music..

  • West was better than Waggoner. And Ward beat that funny sounding kid for sure!

  • Love it.

    Thanks.

    George Vreeland Hill

  • It's funny to see the show so serious. They really let loose with the tongue in cheek humor as it went on. It's been years since I saw the pilot episode with Robin getting kidnapped at the discoteque. Did a version of this scene actually make it into the epidsode? It's the only time I ever remember Bruce talking about his murdered parents.

  • I think that Jethro Bodine should have played the role of Batman, and Gomer Pyle should have played the role of Robin.

  • Did they ever appear like that in the series? Wearing thier costumes, but not thier masks, I mean.

  • I liked the mask in this 1. It looks a lil' more like Batman than the 1 used in the series. And the Batcave looks cooler here 2. They shoulda kept that Batcave and that mask.

  • yeah it sure does and looks way more serious than the show ended up!!

  • You could have just typed, "Look at me, I don't know what I'm talking about!" It would have saved time.

  • That actually seemed like it could have been dark (enough) to save it from the camp! WHY! WHY DIDN'T THEY KEEP THAT BATCAVE?!?

  • Wow, thanks a million!

    I've always wanted a scene of Adam donning the cowl, and that old-style Bat-suit is fantastic.

  • looks black as pitch dick

  • fantastic clips of the screen tests. thanks for uploading.

  • if they used the batman costume in this video and gave robin some pants instead of underwear, i bet the show would've been on longer

  • His costume was modelled after the costume the comic book Robin wore. Burt actually had tights on; his legs weren't bare.

  • I know, but there was a lot of homophobia included in the canceling of the show.

  • No, the show was canceled due to declining ratings. That's why Batgirl was introduced in the final season, to try to spice things up. After the cancellation, another network (NBC, I believe) expressed interest in picking it up, but the sets had already been demolished and rebuilding them would have been too expensive.

  • Some people decided to stop watching the show when they thought Bruce and Dick were living together for...other reasons. So that was one of the reasons the ratings started to decline. They thought if they brought Batgirl in they could "spice things up" as you said, and still show that Batman didn't only trust his youthful aid to assist him.

  • No, the reason the ratings declined was because the novelty had worn off. Every episode was the same - they get trapped, they escape the trap. Plain and simple. Where do you get off making things up about a show that aired long before you were born?

  • @Jeff98177 The show was cut back to one episode a week and they had to cut the budget it was too expensive. Also they added Batgirl. They had so many characters and they only had around 24 minutes with commercials it was hard to write a good story and throw all these characters some lines.

  • @Jeff98177 I am not sure what the original post was that you responded too. I wanted to add a comment

    about to what you say about Batman , true there were alot of episodes and always the same. The James

    Bond movies were the same and I know there are others as well. Otherwise there will be no excitement I guess. and yes I watched these shows as a kid before there was ever cable.

  • @Jeff98177 I am not sure what the original post was that you responded too. I wanted to add a comment

    about to what you say about Batman , true there were alot of episodes and always the same. The James

    Bond movies were the same and I know there are others as well. Otherwise there will be no excitement I guess. and yes I watched these shows as a kid before there was ever cable.

  • Great stuff! Right from the beginning Adam West had the campy/serious nature of his character down.

  • I like the moodier lighting of the Batcave in both this and the Lyle Waggoner audition.

    'The later show made the cave all bright and NASA looking.

  • fishing trips....

  • ...Good Lord, Dick!

  • I think Waggoner looked more the part, but as soon as West opens his mouth, the search was over. He's got such a low and sonorous tone, it's almost hypnotic. And the manner in which he delivered his lines, it was perfect. HOWEVER, if I could go back in time and change anything I wanted about that series, Robert Wagoner would play Batman, Vincent Price would have played the Joker (thus eliminating the character of "Egghead"),and no Aunt Harriet. Now THAT would've been perfect!

  • wow, talk about some corny acting....

  • wow Robin has some body! nice butt too! usually his cape hides it

  • This shows something that was never shown in the series... Bruce and Dick without their masks on, or putting on their masks... Their identities were kept very seperate on the series

  • Yes they were! Very interesting to see!

  • Any reason why they never got unmasked? I wonder if they ever did would they still refer to each other as Batman and Robin or Bruce and Dick?

  • Does anybody know if they ever get unmasked in any of the episodes or any lost episodes?

  • Not necessarily unmasked....Batman takes off his cowl voluntarily twice in the second season when he removes the contaminted pink cowl in the Contaminated Cowl episode but we don't see him sans mask because he is behind a screen....And also when he takes it off in Catwoman Goes To College but again we don't see his face because it cuts to the next scene as he is lifting off the cowl. But we do Barbara's face sans mask in the Batgirl Pilot as she changes into the Batgirl outfit

  • @drugssuck1991 Yes, briefly. In "Pop Goes The Joker"Robin tries to hit Joker with a wire fixture, but the Joker strikes first, punching Robin in the face,which lands him into a pile of clay,directly hitting it with his mask. When Robin pulls his face out, his mask is pulled downward, exposing his face. When Joker's men subdue him, the mask is back on, but the eyeholes are covered with clay.

  • I actually seem to have a memory of one of the super villians (maybe the Penguin) correctly postulating Batman wa Bruce Wayne. But Batman and Robin successfully created a ruse that made him recant.

    Maybe it happened. Or maybe I'm just remembering a daydream I once had. It's been a few years, y'know.

    Are there any series afficianados out there who can chime in on this?

  • Well I know king tut did postulate them twice. Once when he planted a bug on the batmobile and once when he bought property next to wayne manor and mined into the batcave. He forgot both times after he was hit on the head and brought back to normal at the end of the episodes.

  • TEN TIMES better than boring Waggoner and the pipsqueek. How is this ham acting when all they're doing is modulating their voices? Ham is jackasses like Robin Williams or Heather Gtaham. These two are professionals.

  • man you don't know what ham acting is. You've got to see true ham acting in person on a legitimate stage. West did a marvelous job delivering almost continuous quirky lines that Dozier & his writers gave him & Ward. West makes it look easy as he has a natural monotone style(much better than Lyle's) which is why Dozier chose West & Ward. West & Ward look more aristocratic as Bruce & Dick, than Lyle & Peter did. West always made you see the importance of Batman as the lead, and not the villains.

  • Adam West has one of the greatest voices ever. No matter who else may take the roles of Batman and Robin he and Burt will always be the ones they compare them to. West should have gotten a cameo role as Bruce Wayne's father in the 1989 movie but I think they were afraid to have Michael Keaton stand next to him because he wouldn't measure up. And that's not to take anything away from Keaton. But Adam West was the prototype.

  • @MasterOfSparks The fanboys threw a shit fit when Michael Keaton was chosen as Batman. Since he was a comedian people thought the new film would be campy like the TV show. They wanted a darker more serious Batman and wanted to distance the new film from Adam West and the campy TV show. Actually if you read most of The Batman comics once Robin was introduced it was more like the TV show. Batman was dark in the beginning and did not get dark again until the 1970s in comics.

  • Agreed!  He has certainly mastered the fine art of campiness!!

  • "Looks black as pitch, Dick!"

    "UP THE SHOOT!"

  • Adam West hey, you remember me cut my face in fantabaires97

  • I think that karate-chop on the board looked fake. Why the cutaway?

  • I actually agree. When the camera pans down to the board laying on the floor, it doesn't even look like he broke it.

  • I actually think Ward was better than West. More natural. The best acting is when you don't seem like you're acting. And Ward seemed totally at ease. West was definitely acting.

  • I disagree. This isn't even about 'natural' acting. They're both constantly making highly exaggerated gestures - it's part of the style, the weird but glorious decision to ham. They're actually taking the piss out of traditional melodramatic acting. Proof of that here is the ludicrous emphasis West puts on 'up the shoot'. Fabulous entertainment. For me camp always worked better than the later films. Can't suspend disbelief over the daft costumes otherwise.

  • "Okay, Burt. You're gonna want to take that way down."

  • I like the old-school chest emblem on Adam's costume but the Black and Yellow crest worked a lot better to accentuate the mood they wanted to set.

  • this was good, even batman's suit looked better, but they should have used black instead of blue, but I guess it would'nt look good on color TV

  • That Burt Ward could have done some great Movies...to bad Hollywood Type Cast him

  • The energy levels between the two tests are like night and day. Lyle Waggoner filled out the suit better, but the chemistry between West and Ward immediately set the tone for the series.

  • No Bat-Dance for the screentest? what is the world coming to -.-

  • hahaha touche

  • everything west says always sound sooo cliche

  • djcloudstrife. Deliberately so. It's part of the style called camp.

  • This screen test actually made the show serious rather then campy.

  • Yeah they should have done it that way. I guess it was the corporate execs that pushed the campy version.

  • Not quite. Dozier wanted it campy from the beginning, but it was part of the times.

  • Yes. I can't believe how good Ward was. I think he really could've went somewhere.

  • I wish they would have went the serious route too. Both Ward and West would've went on to prosperous careers if they approached the series as serious. I guess they figured with all the real world violence (Vietnam War) the public could use a little comic relief.

  • The computer console on the left at 2:44 looks like it came from the Jupiter 2!

  • hey people if it wasn't for this show the Riddler would have never made a comeback to the comic books and there would have never been a Batgirl...although I don't know if having a Batgirl was positive besides being able to check out her ass (on the show though)

  • Poor Burt Ward. He had to go through a lot. I saw him after the Batman series (well on a tape or something) doing stand up. Then he got really fat! They acutally had Two Face on the series well....the guy was based off of Two Face but FOX felt that TWO FACE character was too violent for the series so they created False Face...I think he was in only one ep. The guy with the books ur referring to would be Roddey McDowell from Planet Of The Apes. Book WORM was his name.

  • burt did stand up comedy? i did not know that and in the late 80's he resurfaced and did films in the late eighties to today and i am serious.

  • burt did stand up comedy? In the late 80's, he did films and still has that talent and he has gotten fat, but in the misadventures of adam and Burt, he still has that crime fighting edge.

  • yeah he got kinda large....i wonder why he let himself go like that?? he was soooo handsome during the series.

  • to me, he still is the robin i know either if he is large or thin as he was in the series. If you get Return to the Batcave: the misadventures of Adam and Burt on netflix or blockbuster, he still has the edge of a crimefighter.

  • oh i have it on dvd. and i still say it's sad how he left himself go like that.

  • hes pushing 64.... lets see how slim you look at that age, when anything you eat goes straight to the gut.

  • hmmmm it's called watching what i eat and exercise. my mother is is 65 and looks 20 years younger than he does and most other people her age...and not to mention adam west never let himself go like burt did.  the saddest thing in return to the batcave is when did a "belly bump" during the fight scene. hopefully he realizes he can still get into the shape he used to be in.

  • two bad there aws never a Two Face or Bane Zsasz or Croc for that matter

    instead there were random villains like um that guy with books... oh can't remember all of them

  • 1:04-1:05 Batman does a Robin impression!

  • I didn't notice that! LOL

  • lmao how did i miss that?

  • This is actually better than the actual show. Thanks for uploading this.

  • Adam made a better Batman than Lyle, although Lyle looked the part. I could imagine Peter as being Robin moreso than Burt, though.

  • ¡¡"What amazing Karate Robin"!! Hahaha...

  • ha!

  • I love it!

  • Burt Ward really knows karate...tremendous screen test

  • Adam West would have made a better serious actor version of Batman than Lyle's.

    Robin could have been played by either kid.

  • "Good Lord, Dick!"

  • i was born right after the show premiered. but from what i seen here, they should've used this screentest as a pilot.

  • WOW! This is fascinating watching Batman and Robin played straight and dramatic without the high camp and innuendos.

  • Can anyone put up the Lyle Wagner screen test ? It is too bad they didn't do this show serious, it would be good. I still hope they do a new TV series with Batman being series insteand of the out of touch one Adam played. As a kid, I watched it for the batmobile, cat women and bat girl.

  • It looks like the wanted it to be like the 40s Batman.

  • Everyone's over-rating this, because it looks a little bit darker. The only reason it seems darker is because of the dimmer lighting and the absence of the outrageous music. The writing is still ridiculous and campy. "They won't let you in, you're underage! It's the law!"

  • I'm glad they made it tongue and cheek. Made it a lot more interesting and fun.

  • This is the way Batman should have been; like a drama, not a comedy.

    If only...if only...

  • ahhh man..:( makes u wonder how the show would've been if they kept it like this, I like it alot..and batmans suit looks much cooler..and old fashion..good post!

  • Damn. I wish the whole show would've been like that.

    The Batman cowl was MUCH better looking than the one they eventually used.

    i wish they would've kept the show like this....

  • Here it's like a crime drama, what we saw was a sitcom.

  • This is fascinating.

  • Where else other than here have you seen them put on their masks?

  • "good lord dick" ahahahaha

  • 1:20

    'When poor Mrs Cooper finds out what you've been doing on these supposed Fishing Trips Of Ours???'

    Brokeback Mountain moment or what lol!!!

  • "You can't go in, you're underage."

    Classic.

  • they seem serious here.shame they didn't keep the tone dark

  • they seem serious here.shame they didn't keep the tone dark

  • Thanks for uploading this. It's a real treat!

  • I should also mention that I've seen the screen test for Lyle Waggoner and Peter Deyell, and I didn't think it was as good.

  • I agree. I liked Lyle's take on it but Peter's Robin didn't have it.

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