Legends Of The Super Heroes

For the last year or so I’ve been on a quest to watch all the appearances of Batman ever made in TV and film, live action and cartoon. So obviously this was a must have. It’s the first appearance of many DC characters in live action and acts as a bit of a reunion for the 1966 Batman show. The disc came very simply packaged just as shown and works great, no complaints. The contents of the disc are… bad, genuinely one of the worst DC medias I’ve ever had the misfortune of viewing. This is not, however, the fault of the seller who is simply distributing this piece of DC history. It was fun to watch and tear apart with my dad, who grew up with and adores Adam West’s Batman. He didn’t know this existed and neither did I until I did some research - to my knowledge, this is the only place to get these specials. Now I must live with the fact that I own this forever on DVD.

I gave this a five star review since it is just the sort of schlock I enjoy wasting time with. I knew what I was getting, having seen it when it originally aired, so I was thrilled with what I received.I do think that I can do this spectacle justice, so I decided to share a Collider review from 2010 by Rob Vaux. He succinctly captures all one needs to know about this Masterpiece.***As unintentional comedy, it edges into Ed Wood-level immortality. The video stock and 70s-era special effects (straight from Sid and Marty Krofft) carry a certain nostalgia value … provided you’re drunk enough and have copies of actual good superhero movies to minimize the pain. Having said that, you’ll still need to wade through the canned laugh track, impromptu musical numbers and piece de resistance–a “minority superhero” named Ghetto Man who truly must be seen to be believed. Those inclined towards such carnage may find it amusing enough, but the faint of heart need not apply.Legends of the Superheroes exists in the same circle of hell as The Star Wars Holiday Special: a perverse curiosity so mind-numbingly awful that it achieves a bizarre sort of perfection. To look upon it is to flirt with madness; you don’t so much watch as gape in saucer-eyed disbelief that real, actual grown-ups signed off on such a mess. It stems from an era when “children’s entertainment” served as an excuse for all matter of creative sins, from shoddy production values to horrendous script writing to performances that wouldn’t pass muster at a community dinner theater.Note: I adore the Star Wars Holiday Special. I watch it at least once a year.Stemming from the unholy swill factory of Hanna-Barbera, it attempts to create a live-action version of the studio’s Superfriends cartoon while emulating the camp formula of the Adam West Batman TV show. West returns as Batman—now in his forties and struggling to keep from spilling out of his girdle. Burt Ward joins him as Robin, along with a gaggle of embarrassed-looking actors portraying Captain Marvel, Black Canary and various other DC characters. The first half of the program sends them against a stripped-down version of the Legion of Doom, led by Frank Gorshin’s Riddler and populated by an array of summer-stock rejects in supremely unflattering spandex. The second half entails a roast of Batman, hosted by Ed McMahon and featuring various villains and fourth-tier celebrities launching old vaudeville jokes at the assembled do-gooders.Yes, really.Directors (and I use the term loosely) Bill Carruthers and Chris Darley hang a series of barely developed comedy sketches on their premise, as the heroes scour the Earth in search of their nemeses, who in turn befuddle them with an array of cheap disguises and silly accents. Legends of the Superheroes clearly hopes to engage both sides of the child-adult equation, as the kids lap up their four-color idols and grown-ups snicker at the cornball jokes. It’s not hard to pull off, even back then (witness The Muppet Show) but you wouldn’t know it to look at the results here. The content remains painfully amateurish, with gags scribbled on cocktail napkins and handed to professional nincompoops in a vain effort to pass them off as “fun.”

When Adam West was asked what he thought of LEGENDS OF THE SUPERHEROES he said it was "a terrible show". He was right. Lets be grateful that the 1966 Batman TV show was not like this otherwise it would never have gotten on the air. This should be a lesson in direction on how not to make a superhero show. First of all do not use a laugh track. Respect your audience they will know when to laugh. Often times laugh tracks are laughing when no one else is as in the case of this abomination. Second do not play for laughs take it seriously. One of the things great about the 1966 Batman is everyone played it straight. Look at how wonderful Neil Hamilton is as Commissioner Gordon. This dreck never takes itself seriously. However this show does fall into the class of so bad its good category. Any show that has West,Ward and Gorshin reprising their famous characters cannot be a total waste of time. West still looks great as Batman and he hasn't lost his smug persona. Ward is a little older and heftier but has not lost Robin's naivete. Gorshin too is heavier but still retains the manic energy he originally brought to the role of the Riddler. Its ashame these pros had to work with a bad script and direction. The show is divided into 2 parts. The first part deals with the Riddler and a bunch of supervillians { played by Gabe Dell, Charlie Callas and Howard Morris among many others}trying to blow up the world. Our heroes {Captain Marvel, Green Lantern etc.} along with Batman and Robin stumble and bumble their way to the villains hideout and thwart their inane plan. Even the fight scenes so well choreographed on the original Batman TV show are clumsy and awkward here. The 2 highlights of this travesty are Solomon Grundy disguised as a gas station attendant wrecking the batmobiles engine in front of the dynamic duo,and Gorshin as the Riddler disguised as a psychiatrist psychoanalysing Captain Marvel. The second half is a comedy roast { and I use the term comedy loosely } of the superheroes by the supervillians. Guests also include Pat Carroll as Hawkman's mother and Ruth Buzzi doing her old lady shtick. The roast is hosted by Ed MacMahon who gets pummeled by Solomon Grundy. The highlight would be Batman playing charades wth Robin and finding out the batmobile was totaled by Robin. West still has his comic flair and makes this all too fleeting moment memorable. The best thing about this dvd is that the picture quality is excellent, and probably looks better than the original broadcast which had that made for TV cheesy video look to it. So if you like bumbling inept superheroes, bad direction, and yearn for the days of 1970's cheap videotaped TV productions this is your cup of bat tea.

Superheroes Of Yesterday Are More Relevant Than Ever Today.

quel regale de regarder cette emission

So bad it's good!

More sitcom than super-hero this is camp a la Batman '66. Not only super-hero conventions are made fun but so is the roast format.These two 1978 television specials are for people who are looking for oddball curios and not conventional super-hero shows.

A fun nostalgic DVD with some good fun along the way. Great for any true original Batman TV series fan.