Holy kaiju crossover, Batman!
In the Sixties, Bat-mania reached new heights. The 1966 TV series, Batman, kicked off a new era of fandom frenzy for the classic comics character. With Adam West as the caped crusader and Burt Ward as the boy wonder, it seemed like they could take over any part of pop culture with a BANG! POW! SHARK REPELLANT!
Between the first and second seasons, the heroes hit the big screen with the 1966 theatrical Batman. Audiences couldn't get enough of the dynamic duo.
At that time, there was another monster hit captivating moviegoers: Godzilla. By then, the franchise had a new movie coming out almost every year. The movies had made a shift from the original, more somber tone of the original, to a more playful, campy take where Godzilla was more sympathetic. Movies released around that time like Destroy All Monsters involved eleven different monsters being mind-controlled by aliens known as Kilaaks.
So really, it isn't so far-fetched to imagine Adam West going bat-toe to toe with Godzilla.
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William Dozier, who created the Batman TV series, worked on a treatment for a movie meant to be released between the second and third seasons. The movie would feature Barbara Gordon as Batgirl, who first appeared in the season three premiere.
The plot for the proposed movie follows Barbara and her father, Commissioner Gordon, traveling to Japan when their boat capsized. The culprit is revealed to be a German scientist named Finster, who claims to have a weather machine that he will use to destroy Japan if he is not paid a ransom. Of course, it turns out that the "weather machine" is actually controlling Godzilla. Commissioner Gordon convinces the Japanese authorities that Batman is the man for the job.
As the dynamic duo attempts to take down the threat, they face a variety of classic Batman obstacles from Finster's agents, like a poison taxicab, ninjas disguised as geishas, evil sumo wrestlers, and robots.
The climax involves a love-struck Godzilla clutching Batgirl like a scaly King Kong, while Batman tries to figure out what to do with the beast. Eventually, he neutralizes Godzilla with a bomb by the head and launches him into space in a rocket ship, never to return... at least until the sequel.
When Batgirl failed to revive flagging interest in the show and the threat of cancellation crept closer, Dozier abandoned the project. What do you think? Would you have watched West's Batman to see what anti-Godzilla gadgets he could pull out of his utility belt?
