Batman '66: Villains local 151
There were a lot of different villains on the show, and only a few of them are remembered to a greater degree. Who remembers Shame or the Minstrel? No one. The few who does, tries to forget by using hard liquor—lots of it. At times, even great villains are easily forgotten, Vincent Price did a wonderful and cringe worthy Egghead. Worst puns ever, even if one takes Mr Freeze in Batman & Robin into the account.
Only four of the crooks are remembered realty. The Riddler, the Penguin, the Joker and Catwoman. Pengy was the first and most reoccurring of them all so that’s no real surprise there. (He later trained Rocky Balboa. FYI.) The Joker is pretty much the standard bad guy from the comics so he’s bound to be one at the top—even though his white painted moustache was a bit creepy. And Catwoman and the Riddler? They were almost too much fun for the show, they steal every episode they’re in..
One of the most interesting things about the villains occurred when they replaced the Riddler. The Riddler as Frank Gorshin was all fun and giggles and amoral crotch-thrusts that would make Ron Jeremy blush, but for the two-parter where John Astin put on the suit, well… It was bizarre, as the show suddenly had a villain with a menacing streak, a real bad guy instead of goofy fun. While it was great, it didn’t fit into the style of the tv-show.
On the other hand, Julie Newmar as Catwoman was a lot of fun. Probably more fun than any DC adaptation ever has the right to be. The way I see it, Catwoman should be an enigma of ambivalence, and this is the closest we’ve gotten so far. In the Tim Burton-version, Catwoman was distant and never really present—all looks and no brains really. (Which is understandable, as Burton would never read a comic book.) Even when she’s not the head villain, she’s the person one remembers. Why couldn’t they have made a Catwoman film then instead of now? Oh yeah, comic adaptations are not entertainment – they’re “high art” and must have these issues in society to address.
