Episode 42 — Batman & Robin

[admin 330]

Superhero butt shots, bat nipples, and freeze puns are all up for discussion on this week's How Did This Get Made? The Nerdist podcast's Matt Mira and Marvel's Jesse Falcon join us to chat about a movie that easily can be seen as a really long action figure commercial, Batman & Robin! So Stay cool and be sure to winterize your podcast ears!

[Lukas Holmes 2287]

Finally!

[Cole P 4]

Man, I gotta rewatch this movie! I wonder if the Batman and Robin surf scene outdoes the amazing Kurt Russell surf scene in Escape from LA?

[Jeff MacDonald 71]

The woman that plays Gossip Gerty, Elizabeth Sanders, is actually the widow of Bob Kane.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

The woman that plays Gossip Gerty, Elizabeth Sanders, is actually the widow of Bob Kane.

 

D'oh! I was about to point that out too!

[hornacek 43]

How could you not have mentioned the WORST line of the movie?

 

"Holy sheet metal, Batman!"

 

If people didn't know by this point that they were watching a terrible movie with no respect for the source material, this did it.

[sauze 111]

GREAT episode of a ridiculous film (which I actually remember WANTING to see when I was a kid) Matt Mira is a perfect addition to this podcast. Have him back soon!

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

You mentioned the Cage Superman stuff, which I've also gotten a look at, and what a LOT of people don't remember (if you weren't paying attention to comics, you probably didn't even know) is that in early 1997, Supes got a pretty big overhaul. I'll be damned if I remember what brought it about in the story (in the real world, I'm sure it was a sales stunt), but he was given electricity-based powers and an ultra-90's-looking glowing blue suit that didn't have a cape. It was blue and white, and the Burton designs looked a LOT like this look. In the comics, it lasted about about a year (Superman also split into two during this time, into a red and white variant...or something...), it was shit upon by all, and they just brought the classic look back without any real explanation. If WB had gone through with Burton's version, they would have either kept electro-Superman around longer, or (more likely) the film would have already been completely out of date.

 

 

 

No. He certainly is not...

 

 

"By the Superman Writers and Artists"? Yeah, no one wanted their name on this shit.

[seanotron 2307]

Honestly, I think this movie killed Gene Siskel.

[jeremypiventoyou 10]

I had that Poison Ivy action figure, totally bought right into their merch-pushing scheme.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

I had the Taco Bell Alicia Silverstone Batgirl cup for a pretty long time. That thing took a beating and tasted every flavor of booze under the rainbow. It was glorious.

[Corky Kneivel 113]

I'm glad you guys did this movie, its so bad. Unfortunately I cannot stand Matt "Talks Over Everyone" Mira.

 

Life is all about tough choices.

[CapricaSixSixSix 100]

I'm ashamed that I used to have a ladyboner for Chris O'Donnell as Batman.

 

Did this kill Alicia Silverstone's career?

 

Edited to add:

 

 

It's the classic "sorry you were offended, not for what I did" apology

[Julia 477]

Did this kill Alicia Silverstone's career?

 

Alicia Silverstone killed Alicia Silverstone's career.

[MovieVigilante 2]

Apparently, Alicia Silverstone wanted to play Robin as evidenced here when she fed her baby like a mama bird.

 

"Freeze, bird girl!"

[RyanSz 3140]

This is one of my favorite episodes along with the Wicker Man ep. I remember loving this movie as a kid, mainly because I was 10 and loved all things Batman. From American Silverston in a British family to the super-homoerotic overtones of the director, this movie was BAAAADDD. I loved that Jesse referenced the cartoon spoofing Schumaker with a feminite character in the cartoon (I posted the clip in the comments of the minisode.)

 

As for this ruining Alicia Silverstone's career, it really did. But to be honest no one outside of Clooney and Thurman came out of this alive. Arnold had a string of horrible movies after this and O'Donnel has only recently made a comeback with NCIS:LA.

[seanotron 2307]

I'm not sure Silverstone had much of a career before this movie. The only truly popular, breakout role she had up to this point was Clueless. And those Aerosmith videos.

[DanEngler 5249]

My favorite part of HDTGM: Mantzoukas becomes so enraged that the language center of his brain shuts down, and all he can spit out from between clenched teeth is "THIS MOVIE…IS GARBAGE." I don't think Batman & Robin proved bad enough to trigger a total Zouks meltdown.

[CapricaSixSixSix 100]

I don't think Batman & Robin proved bad enough to trigger a total Zouks meltdown.

 

Have we yet determined what the biggest Mantzoukas Meltdown is?

[RyanSz 3140]

 

Have we yet determined what the biggest Mantzoukas Meltdown is?

 

Battlefield Earth by far was his biggest Meltdown.

[RyanSz 3140]

I'm not sure Silverstone had much of a career before this movie. The only truly popular, breakout role she had up to this point was Clueless. And those Aerosmith videos.

 

That's more of a career than she had after this movie.

[Shannon 2953]

How could you not have mentioned the WORST line of the movie?

 

"Holy sheet metal, Batman!"

 

If people didn't know by this point that they were watching a terrible movie with no respect for the source material, this did it.

 

 

No one mentioned it because that ADORABLE scene is from Batman Forever and the line is

 

"Holy rusted metal Batman!"

 

"What?"

 

"The ground. It's made of metal and all full of holes. Ya know, hole-y?"

 

 

and how is paying cute homage to the 60's series not being respectful of source material?

[DanEngler 5249]

Battlefield Earth by far was his biggest Meltdown.

But The Wicker Man and Judge Dredd were not far behind.

[robinsbruce 4985]

They totally played batsman ans robin twice last night on g4. Anyone else catch it? Its three hours with th commercials but it was worth getting to the worst part of the movie for me.

 

Batman, it's me, Barbara. (Looks around) I found the bat cave!

 

What the FUCK man?

[MikeToole 12]

The Burton/Schumaker series couldn't go any further than this movie. Joel took the material of this batman, with its toy commercial emphasis ordered from the producers, and he distilled it into a work of art, high camp, an 8 year old boy psychosexual epic. "I want a car" does indeed set the tone for this movie. Boys, toys, girls, cooties, highly sexual and yet no sex. This movie is puberty. Even the scale of Gotham city reminds me of playing with toys at the time the movie came out. When Batman's intro is a clear Fred Flintstone reference, its not some accident, the movie is telling you this is a big cartoon. And when a movie is constructed this way, you lose things like realistic character psychology. They're just cartoonish metaphors. This is high camp, and no inch of this movies frames is not overly designed by the confluence of Hollywood artisans under the direction of the now art house director, Joel Schumaker.