“The Green Hornet” marathon is going on on SyFy right now. Again, the best two, in my opinion: “The Preying Mantis” at 2:30 PM, featuring a climactic “gung fu” (as they say it) battle between Kato (Bruce Lee) and a Tong overlord (Mako); “Bad Bet on a 459-Silent” at 8 PM in which the Hornet (Van Williams) is shot by a cop and, consequently, basically screwed because the bullet needs to come out and all the hospitals are on the lookout for him. Episodes run until 11 PM EST, although you should feel free to skip the two part “Invasion from Space” at 10 PM. So painfully campy that it’s as if they got an order from the network saying, “Make it more like ‘Batman’ and this was their attempt to do so.
PAD
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So will they show the Batman crossover with the plausibly evenly matched confrontation between Adam West and Van Williams, and the hilariously evenly matched confrontation between Burt Ward and Bruce Lee? It was one of my all time favorite moments in syndicated rerun history.
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I’ve only watched those episodes with the benefit of hindsight. Did it look as ridiculous when it first ran?
No, “Batman” episodes are being run on the Hub (and since apparently the Hub is being run by pea brains, it hasn’t occurred to them to air those episodes to tie into the film.)
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From what I understand, originally the Robin/Kato battle had Robin winning, and Bruce Lee point blank said, “No way.” He was right to do so. I mean, yeah, I thought Batman and Robin were great (as a kid, I took it very seriously, blind to the campy aspects) but the Green Hornet and Kato were just so. Much. Cooler. Robin beat Kato? No way. (Also Burt Ward was terrified of having a fight scene with Bruce Lee because he knew Lee could totally wipe the floor with him.)
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It wasn’t as evenly matched as you recall. Yes, it ended in stalemate, but aside from Robin getting in a lucky punch here and there, it was clear even in first airing that Robin was really no match for him. At one point Kato just kicks him over a desk; Robin never really gets another punch in after that. Which was the honest way to do it. I was nine or ten years old when it originally aired and even at that age, I was aware that an extended fight wouldn’t really end in stalemate. I could buy that maybe, MAYBE, Batman and the Hornet were evenly matched, but all the Hornet has to do is hold off Batman long enough for Kato to demolish the Boy Wonder, and then it’s two on one and game over for Batman. So no, as a child seeing it through a child’s eyes, it wasn’t ridiculous at all.
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Frankly, I was far more annoyed that the Hornet and Batman were teamed up to combat what I considered to be a fairly lame-ášš villain–Colonel Gumm–rather than someone more worthy of their attention. I think part of the problem stems from the Hornet not really having any sort of memorable rogue’s gallery. If the story had teamed up the Joker with the Hornet’s equivalent of Lex Luthor, THAT would have been fantastic. But the Hornet doesn’t have anything like that, so it was a problem.
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PAD
I watched all the old Batman episodes as a teenager, even though I saw a few as a kid. So when I watched it, I was loving all the campy stuff.
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My impression of that fight was to laugh. Robin against Bruce Lee? Nooo. I think it would have been better if they’d given up on the “sidekick” aspect and just paired Kato off with Batman.
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In fact, that’s basically my brother’s impression of the Green Hornet from the commercials. He’s closer to your age, PAD, and watched the Green Hornet as a kid. He says that the way he remembered it was that Kato just completely out shown the Green Hornet, almost comically. He feels like the people who made the movie must remember it the same way and just accepted that the hero is the comic relief and the sidekick is actually the muscle.
I didnt know about the marathon until after I saw your message about it, Peter. But I instantly got on my DVR and set it to record what was left. (Not easy to do, because I’m also recording a lot of Laurel and Hardy shorts running tonight on TCM.)
Myself, I and most of my friends couldn’t stand Burt Ward’s Robin. We found him more annoying than anything else. So it was fun for us to see him getting his head kicked in up against Kato.
And I’ve always though Kato was the rare sidekick who was superior to the main hero. (The only other one I can think of offhand depends on if you considered Spock to be Kirk’s sidekick. My apologies in advance to those who consider that blasphemy.) Britt Reid supplied the money to build the gadgets, including the car. But, if I remember right, it was Kato who made everything. And, of course, if “Mr. Britt” ever got out of line, Kato could put him in his place, quickly!
We just had a Imax theater open here (though it isn’t true Imax — I saw “Tron Legacy” there and the screen isn’t anywhere near the size of the Imax I was in before), and they’re going to show the “Green Hornet” there in 3-D. I’ll probably catch it there as a matinee.
I’m just kinda embarrassed that I used to watch a bunch of the Adam West Batman and Green Hornet episodes (“it’s like Batman, except they kill people. Also, the police and public think that he is a criminal.”) and I never realized until this website pointed it out, that the theme song was a version of “Flight of the Bumblebee.”
Oh, absolutely. Wasn’t even original to the TV show; it was the theme going all the way back to the radio program.
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PAD
Yeah, but as part of a family that exposed me to a *lot* of classical music (and as someone who has had music appreciation courses) one would think that I would recognize this.
One thing that popped into my head: How many people are aware that the Green Hornet was a spin-off of the Lone Ranger? Britt Reid, the Hornet’s true identity, was the grand-nephew of John Reid, the Ranger? Essentially, you look at Kato as being a modern, Asian Tonto (originally Japanese, then Filipino as of December 8, 1941), the idea of masked men often mistaken for (or posing as) outlaws, and you realize they’re the same show in different time periods.
It’s nice just to get both these shows back on the air, even if Green Hornet won’t be sticking around for long.
Oh,God – yes! After a day I had today, I needed this!
Still not sure about the Seth Rogen movie – gonna see it (matinee price) because I’m a GH fan from way, way back but just watching these episodes (aside from sadly thinking Van Williams is the only surviving cast member) fills me with such apprehension.
I’m gonna keep an open mind when I ultimately go but this ol’school classic (with just minor tweaks – some eps are very, very dark) would still has legs with audiences even TODAY.
Bruce Lee vs. Mako?
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Color me very, very intrigued. Any idea whether they’re planning on rerunning the marathon?
Oh, yeah…the two Primo Icons of Asian American performers…Vampire Cowboys are pretty much in heaven about this (Asian American theatre group into fight choreography and combat).
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One of the things I still find amazing about this show isn’t even something that’s actually in it. Bruce Lee looks fast as hëll with the snap on his punches as Kato and in the very early shows he looks unbelievably fast.
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That was him slowing his punches down.
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They actually had to tell Bruce to slow down his strikes in the fight scenes because the cameras they had to film the show with couldn’t see/properly record the punches.
So surreal seeing PacMan* years before the game came out.
Got to admit these hold up better than the batman episodes over at HUB, no cheese overdose.
*eyes on the GH Logo
First off I loved that Green Hornet show and thank you Peter for posting the times for those episodes. I had never seen the episode with Mako before it was neat seeing him there.
I’m a huge Green Hornet fan. An episode of the radio show “The Boathouse Mystery” was the first radio show I ever bought, and you can be sure I’ll be buying the new collection of previously unreleased shows (bar one) from 1943 and 1944 from Radio Spirits.
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More detailed thoughts about The Green Hornet can be found here:
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http://www.michronicleonline.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=random-musings-04-16-2010.html&Itemid=29
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As to the marathon, I don’t have cable, but a friend taped it. So hopefully I can see the episodes via him. For whatever reason, it was never re-run when I was growing up. I only saw the Hornet in his appearances in Batman.
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One thing I seem to recall from the Hornet/Batman confrontation is that the Hornet told Kato he was reluctant to fight Batman because, while Batman didn’t realize this, they were both crime fighters, and thus on the same side. Maybe that bit of dialogue was there not only to create a bit of dramatic tension, but also to give a plausible reason why Kato didn’t wipe up the floor with Robin: He didn’t want to.
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Well, he may have wanted to. As Catwoman once observed, Robin “is a pain with his holy this and holy that”; but that wanting to wipe up the floor with Robin wouldn’t be because they were on opposite sides of the law and order fence.
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As to the movie, I plan to see it this weekend. I’ll admit that some of the more recent ads are giving me pause; but I’m also aware that they may be designed to draw Seth Rogen’s fan base to see the film, and those scenes either may not actually be in the film or may be from early on, before the character of Britt Reid fully matures.
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One scene in trailers I do like is when Britt realizes he’s been wasting his life. That at least suggests the possibility of a character arc. I’ve never seen Rogen’s work before, but I know he’s done comedies. That doesn’t automatically mean The Green Hornet will be a comedy, though from the trailers there are comedic moments. Maybe Rogen wants to show he can do more than just comedies. I suspect, though, that trailers focusing on the serious, dramatic bits of the film (if there are any) wouldn’t work, given Rogen’s casting.
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So, I’ll reserve judgment until I see the film. Still, it could have been worse. I mean Michael Keaton as Batman? That’s the most insane, ridiculous, crazy– what’s that? A new director for the third and fourth films? He wants to what!?. My God, we’ve got to get Michael Keaton back!
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We all remember that (paraphrased) blast from the past. I wouldn’t be surprised if the voices calling the loudest for Keaton to return to the role were the ones who decried his casting in the first place. It would be really ironic if say, 10 years from now, some other actor is cast as the Hornet and people who currently consider Rogen’s casting a disaster are complaining about the good old days with Seth Rogen in the role.
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Rick
For what it’s worth, the movie is directed by the excellent Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Science of Sleep) and he said he’s playing the movie straight. While there will be comedic moments in the film, its not a spoof or comedy.
So, I’ll reserve judgment until I see the film. Still, it could have been worse. I mean Michael Keaton as Batman? That’s the most insane, ridiculous, crazy– what’s that? A new director for the third and fourth films? He wants to what!?. My God, we’ve got to get Michael Keaton back!
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I’ve mentioned this anecdote before; then again, I mentioned the marathon a week before it aired and people missed that, so…
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I was on a writers panel at a convention twenty years ago and word of Keaton’s casting had just been announced. And we were asked what we thought of it. And every other guy on the panel said it was an insult, it was going to be a joke, it was Adam West redux, etc. And they got to me, and I said that just because Tim Burton and Michael Keaton were mostly known for comedy, that didn’t mean they couldn’t do a more serious treatment, and I was going to reserve judgment until I actually saw it.
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It was the first, and thus far the only, time that I was nearly booed off the stage.
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Flash forward to a couple of years later and I overhear some fans talking about the newly announced “Batman Returns,” and they’re saying, “Well, it better be Tim Burton and Michael Keaton or else it’s gonna suck.”
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Vindication is a lovely thing.
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PAD
I just watched one episode of the show. What struck me is that while the old Batman show had more of the vibe of a ’60s superhero comic with all the colorful crooks and stuff, Green Hornet has more of a pulp crime vibe with maybe a touch less grit. He’s not going around fighting colorful costumed crooks, he’s fighting gangsters and corrupt cops and stuff.
The whole series is like that, with the exception of the absolutely excruciating “Invasion from Outer Space.” Even as a kid I watched it and said, “This is stupid.”
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PAD
I still wonder why the full series isn’t available on DVD (a
Sorry, slipped key. I continue:
Yes, I know that the two movies have been released, but given the way they were edited, I’ll pass, thank you. It’s one of life’s great mysteries that something which will be a big commercial success is not likely to be released anytime soon.
Hearing about the GH marathon from PAD, I decided to watch some of it (I’d never seen the show before; and yes, I’m 40) — and it was entertaining. Far less campy than BATMAN, it was enjoyable fluff. Oddly, I liked seeing a show where the hero-posing-as-villain actually threatened to kill witnesses and steal loot, instead of the usual Dudley Do-Right absolutely moral correctness.
GH was far from perfect though. My biggest complaint: They didn’t even try to have Van Williams change his voice between Britt Reid and the Green Hornet, yet the newspaper’s crime reporter couldn’t tell that they were the same person, despite his working with Reid and frequently encountering the GH. Also, I noticed there were several times when one car (usually the Black Beauty) would be in daytime, then when they cut away to another car (usually a policecar) it would be night, then back to the Black Beauty (when it was day again). And I did watch the “Invasion from Outer Space” — ouch! (Incidentally, I thought it would have made more sense if the female “alien” had been a robot: She only acted or reacted when the mad scientist told her to do something, and she was the only one who didn’t relax and move normally when the baddies were away from the authorities.)
And it’s a matter of taste, but my favorite TV opening is “Tank!” by Yoko Kanno, from the anime COWBOY BEBOP http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6zDfxZ4NcE