All Star Superfan's podcast for the 30th anniversary of Batman Forever

The All Star Superfan podcast have just released a 30th anniversary episode on Batman Forever (nearly 3 hours of chat) and I was lucky enough to contribute alongside host Rob O'Connor and fellow guests Niall McGowan (Bat minute podcast) and Parker Johnston (Dick Tracy minute podcast).

If you want to give it a listen, it will cost you a few bucks as it's part of All Star's new patreon.

LINK: http://patreon.com/allstarsuperfan

I know I'm biased as I know the hosts Rob and Alan but they honestly do a fantastic podcast that has over 50 episodes covering all sorts of Superman related media and have interviewed some amazing actors, writers, artists and producers.

This new patreon will have lots of exclusives as well as reviews of the old 1988 Superboy TV show.

Batman Forever commentary

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Batman Forever, myself and Drew got together to record a commentary track for the film so get your copy - DVD, Blu-ray, VHS, whatever - queued up and listen along with us.

If you'd prefer to listen to it as an mp3, here's a link.

Happy 30th Anniversary to Batman Forever

Well, we're officially all old.

Batman Forever only came out like 10 years ago, right? Sorry to say.... no. It came out 30 years ago today - June 16th.

I remember the summer of 1995 in incredibly vivid detail. Seal and U2 playing on the radio. All those awesome Kenner toys on the shelves of Woolworths. Adverts for the movie (and sometimes the video game) playing on TV every hour.

I wasn't prepped or hyped for the movie at all. It was my friend Peter who was the big Batman fan. I had seen a few episodes of the animated series but I wasn't super hooked. I had also missed out on the Batmania of 1989 and 1992 - due to those Burton movies carrying a 15 certificate.

I was 11 in 1995 and I had got excited about a few blockbuster films before - Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Jurassic Park, The Flintstones (maybe?) - but nothing prepared me for the sheer burst of energy and colour that was Batman Forever. 

My dad took me and Peter and I remember it being one of the last times I was truly swept away by a film. Films don't quite hit me in the same way nowadays. Oh sure, I still like new movies but there's nothing quite like when you're a kid and you just... lose yourself. Be transported to another world. To paraphrase Edward Nygma - it was like I was "inside the show".

I walked out of the cinema incredibly energised. My brain trying to process the rollercoaster ride I just experienced - laughs, action, sadness and a more than a hint of sex.

That weekend I remember seeing the toys on the shelves when my dad took me to Tesco. It was so tough to choose just one (look at me now, I have them all) so I went with Hydro Claw Robin. I thought that Dick Grayson character was a pretty cool guy and I kinda dug that the toy didn't look like the movie - it was it's own interpretation.

Since seeing the film, I was running Batman story ideas in my head. I felt a kind of kinship to the toy manufacturers that we were both trying to visualise further adventures these characters could have. The next few weeks I saved up for the black suit Riddler, and then for Two-Face, and finally a transforming Dick Grayson. These figures were about £5.99 if I remember correctly and I got £2 a week from my grandad. I think I might have even washed his van for a extra bonus £5.

Then one weekend, I went to Tesco and the figures were all gone. I was too slow to get a Batman - I was holding out for the transforming Bruce Wayne. I ended up getting an animated Mech Wing Batman to complete the line-up a few weeks later.

That summer I must have let my dad know how much I enjoyed the film (as an aside, he claims to have no knowledge taking me to the cinema to see Batman Forever when I asked him about it recently). Anyway, my dad went away to America on a business trip - he was a pig farmer and had been asked to talk to farmers over there about UK techniques (random I know). He came back with two presents for me - one was a copy of the graphic novel Batman: KnightsEnd and the other was a huge poster of Kilmer and O'Donnell in their respective suits, awkwardly fist-bumping. 

That poster hung on my wall for many years and the copy of KnightsEnd, though slightly baffling at first given that it was the third part of a trilogy, launched me into reading Batman comics. And I'm still reading comics today as a 41 year old man.

But yeah, that summer, I bought the Making of the Movie book by Michael Singer and I bought the soundtrack on cassette. I would relive the movie hundreds of times before I got the video for Christmas just by flicking through that book, listening to the soundtrack, or playing with the figures.

The images from that Making of book were definitely something that intrigued me. It was the first time I took in what a gargantuanly complicated production movies were. How all the sets and costumes were designed and built from scratch. The city built out of models. I remember being particularly fascinated by this costume sketch of Robin where it looks like they redesigned the costume to be blue and gold (in hindsight, I think it was the shading). If you notice, I use this now as my avatar.

I don't think my love of Batman Forever diminished but certainly it spread out and diluted over the years. I became more of a fan of the character than I did of just this one movie. I got into collecting and reading all the graphic novels. I eventually stopped buying toys (other than the odd McFarlane Movie Maniac figure).

When Batman Begins came out in 2005, I felt a little isolated. I didn't hate the movie, but I felt like lots of other people around me starting to express opinions like "thank God this new Batman takes the character seriously, not like those old campy Schumacher ones." I was a little crushed that my once cherished film was now just a marker for other, supposedly better Batman films.

Around 2012, I started getting back into collecting figures again. The whole adult toy collecting was becoming a thing and for a few years I had a lot of fun buying up really obscure toy lines on eBay. The Super Mario Brothers movie, Dune, Wing Commander, SeaQuest, Virus, Lost in Space. The more random the better. I remember thinking - I'm not going to try collecting the Batman Forever line, it'll be a pain to find everything.

In 2017, my wife gave birth to twins and a year later I made the decision to stop working and stay home to look after them. I needed something to keep me sane. So I started thinking about doing a blog about something I loved. I'd already done a short lived one on movies.

At the time I was reading a blog called 1989batman.com which covered the first two Burton Batman movies. It was a delightful mixture of magazine scans, old TV interviews, toy reviews and other miscellaneous material. I check the internet to see if anyone else was covering the other two Schumacher movies (or at the very least just Batman Forever) but to my surprise no one really was. There were plenty that covered all the Batman movies but none just focused on these two colourful, hyperactive, over the top films by Joel. Clearly the internet had create a hate and dislike of Batman & Robin that was so powerful no one would raise their head about the parapet to try and defend them.

I decided then and there to create 1995batman.com and 7 years later here we are.

People often ask why it is that I love Batman Forever so much? It really simple. The film is like a time machine. When I watch it, I stop being an adult and become a kid again. The older you get, the more that feeling becomes priceless. I get transported into Barbara Ling's vision of Gotham. I know the film isn't perfect but I have the most incredibly fun two hours with these characters. 

If you're reading this, I guess you do too.

------------ 

There will be something else posted later today but as a little present, here's a video I put together showing a side-by-side of the Subway Sabotage section of the film alongside the storyboards.

Podcast: Episode 3 of 1995Batman podcast out now

In this episode, Drew and I continue listening and commenting on Eyebrow Cinema's Revisiting Joel Schumacher's Batman video. 

Enjoy!

Batman Forever Merchandise Review - Nightmare Bat from McFarlane

Finally completing my McFarlane set of Batman Forever figures with the Nightmare Bat build a figure.

As I say in the video, this was an odd choice for a fifth figure for the line. I can't help feel that there was probably some rights issue with Nicole Kidman's likeness rights.

Still, it is kind of fun to put together and put alongside the rest of the figures. All in all I really appreciate McFarlane doing this line but can't help but feel they are all a little compromised. I actually think the B&R figures came out better. Maybe it's just my expectations.

I have the Forever batmobile (and Alfred figure) to review and I'll get around to that very soon.

I'm still hoping to get the white suited Riddler figure that came out a few weeks back. Struggling to find anywhere online that sells one.

Podcast: 1st two episodes of 1995 Batman podcast out now

So Drew and I have started a recording a few episodes of this discussion podcast where we watch some videos or read some articles  related to the Schumacher Batman films and have a chat about the contents. 

Hope you enjoy! It's a fun way of getting us to bring up our individual thoughts and ideas about what does and doesn't work about the two Schumacher films.

The first episode has us looking at an article from TheShot.com about 5 Reasons Why Batman Forever is the Best of the  Batman Movies.

And in episode 2 we take a look at Eyebrow Cinema's video essay looking at both Schumacher Batman films (*note, this video will have a part 2 later).

What's On All Our Minds? The Schumacher Cut

So sadly, the Schumacher Cut (ie. the workprint) of Batman Forever didn't get screened at Cinefile Video as planned on May 29th. They got hit by a cease and desist from Warner Brothers.

I had a few thoughts about what happened and what the future holds for this fabled cut.

Batman Forever Merchandise Review - Riddler figure from McFarlane

As with most of the Batman Forever McFarlane line, this Riddler figure is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, it is super posable which is great because it means you can put the figure in pretty much every one of those crazy poses Jim Carrey did for the promotional photoshoots for the film.

But super poseable also means you need to have tons of joints. And joins are difficult to paint over. So there are large sections (down the side of the legs, the shoulders, the kneecaps) where the questions marks just stop.

I think McFarlane could have solved this somewhat by having a few less questions marks. That would have made these gaps seem less obvious. But anyway, it is what it is.

The face is decent but nothing to write home about. Again, everything after the Uma Thurman Poison Ivy figure feels like a tiny step down.

I still mostly recommend this figure. It's great to have it in my collection but I am more excited for that Beast Kingdom figure that is hopefully coming out later in the year.

Also excited to say we are getting an extra figure to this line that was recently announced - a white suit Riddler that looks to have a completely new head sculpt. Hopefully this will be out in time for the 30th anniversary this Summer.

Batman Forever Merchandise Review - Two Face figure from McFarlane

So now we come to my favourite figure of the McFarlane Batman Forever line - Two Face.

Although it's not a perfect likeness to Tommy Lee Jones it's got a great expressive face and I love that they've done the coin flipping in his hand.

The costume is well captured. Sure there's a couple of bits of silver paint missing but they aren't huge. It will only take me a few minutes with a chrome pen to put the three metal bits on the glove and a steel toe cap on the right shoe.

The only real blunder is that the figures has no guns! I believe that this is a recent edict by DC Comics that action figures based on their characters (even those ones made for adult collectors) should not have any guns. As a result you're going to have to find your own weapons for this figure.

My suggestion however is to make a tiny newspaper to put in his hand. Here's the link to the jpeg / pdf.

News: Val Kilmer has passed away aged 65

I don't want to write a typical obituary. Obituaries are always so cold and clinical. Reducing someone life to a handful of clipped sentences and a small photo. Saying nothing but vague niceties about the deceased. Things that the author never expressed when the person was alive.

If you just want to read a brief summary of Val Kilmer's life it's probably best to look elsewhere - I'm sure wikipedia is mostly correct. All the major newspapers will have a concise obituaries that covers all his highs and lows. Better yet, just go and watch the documentary from a few years back that Kilmer himself made, titled Val (2021). It covers his career in a very eloquent way and goes into some personal life stuff that I'm going to avoid.

Instead I'm going to waffle (can't think of a better word) for a few paragraphs about what Val meant to me. Val was an actor whose life was split into four parts. Rising fame. Declining fame. Ill health. And recovery.

He trained at the New York's famed Juilliard School in the early 1980s and bar a handful of off-Broadway theatre performances and one After School TV special (with a young Michelle Pfeiffer) managed to instantly get cast in a big screen movie role.

The film was Top Secret, an eclectic spoof movie that mostly took aim at 1950s Elvis movies and World War II movies. It speaks volumes to Val's talent that he managed to snag the lead role at such a young age. The part required not only acting but also comedic chops and singing ability. The film itself is very funny in places but it didn't quite have the hit rate of the directors' earlier film Airplane! Val really committed to the role though and it's a shame that he only did a handful more comedies after this because he's very funny. Also, of note to Batman Forever fans, he has a handful of scenes with Michael Gough.

His next two films were Real Genius and Top Gun. The former a light-hearted, sometimes surreal comedy about students working at a science and technology university. The latter a pulse-pounding military movie about jet pilots. It's here that I realised what range Val had. The laid back character of Chris Knight in Real Genius is a million miles away from the super intense 'Iceman' in Top Gun. I almost can't believe it's the same actor.

And I think that ability would follow him throughout his career. He always seemed a bit of a restless actor who really wanted to stretch himself with every part he played. Never trying to repeat any of his roles. He would bring something extra to the table when he was cast in a role. Sometimes this would really pay off, like Tombstone, in which he singlehandedly runs away with the film. Other times, it wouldn't pay off, such as his bizarre turn in The Island of Dr Moreau.

Throughout the late 80s and 90s his career would go up and down. Never quite maintaining a running streak. For a while he seemed to avoid anything too commercial. Instead, looking for interesting dramatic roles in films such as Thunderheart and Kill Me Again. 

Then in 1994 he was offered the lead role in the third Batman film after Michael Keaton stepped down. It was an offer that he was asked to accept without reading the script. As the story goes he was in a bat cave at the time doing early prep for The Ghost and the Darkness (who knows if this is just one of those cute Hollywood myths). Reading his autobiography - I'm Your Huckleberry - I think he accepted the part mostly as a commercial decision. He was already working on The Saint and saw the two franchises as being nice pay cheques that would allow him the freedom to do more interesting and rewarding indie work.

By his own account, shooting Batman Forever wasn't much fun. Although I think he enjoyed working Jim Carrey, he didn't get on with director Joel Schumacher, reportedly not speaking to him directly for two weeks. He absolutely loathed the rubber costume which he equated to being like an elderly man - you couldn't stand for long, you couldn't hear people very well and you had to get help to go pee.

Some of his character arc was cut from the film due to pacing but what remains in the film is pretty solid. He played Bruce Wayne as a man who is truly haunted by his past and his interactions with other people like Chase and Edward is awkward. His best moments in the film are when he lashes out at Chris O'Donnell's Dick Grayson:-

"So you're willing to take a life? Then it will happen this way: You make the kill. But your pain doesn't die with Harvey, it grows. So you run out into the night to find another face... and another and another... until one terrible morning you wake up and realize... that revenge has become your whole life. And you won't know why."

Due to the fraught relationship with director Joel Schumacher, he was not asked to return for Batman & Robin. He was also working on The Saint, a film reboot of the 60s TV show and long running book series by Leslie Charteris. I always wonder how different Batman & Robin would have been if Val had stayed on. Would he have brought a bit more gravitas to the film like he had to Batman Forever? I certainly feel like the Bruce and Alfred stuff might have been stronger.

Anyway, he went and did The Saint which is a bit underrated in my opinion. It's got some silly bits early on where he puts on a ton of disguises and tries to seduce Elizabeth Shue but it mostly works as an adult orientated thriller. It's strange to think how the Mission: Impossible series ran and ran and this just stopped after one film. Financially it did okay but I guess the enthusiasm wasn't there to go further.

I feel like The Saint was the point where Val's career started tailing off. The big budget lead roles were few and further between and when they did happen like 2000s Red Planet, they didn't perform well. Like a lot of actors he retreated to indie fare and DTV movies, started playing supporting roles rather than the lead. I can't speak for most of these because there's a lot I haven't seen. I did notice he did more than one film with 50 Cent. Two bright spots in the 2000s were Spartan - a thoughtful, wordy thriller from David Mamet that I need to give rewatch soon and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - a comedic noir thriller from Shane Black that paired him with Robert Downey Jr (Pre-Marvel). Both are well worth checking out.

The other great film from the 2000s is MacGruber where Val gamely played the villain Dieter Von Cunth but I will admit 95% of the best jokes are Will Forte's. It was around this time that Val started doing a one-man theatre show playing the role of Mark Twain. He seemed to get real joy from doing this and continued for many years performing it. I was kind of surprised he didn't turn it into some kind of film but maybe he just enjoyed keeping it a stage experience. Working on it, honing it, giving it to audiences live.

In 2015 he was hospitalized for what turned out to be throat cancer. When he finally remerged in 2017 his appearance had changed dramatically. Now only able to speak by plugging a voice box into his trachea. He returned for a few more film roles but they were mostly brief appearances and his voice was either dubbed by someone else or his character was mute. I always felt conflicted by his appearance in Top Gun: Maverick. On the one hand, it was nice for Tom Cruise to find a role for his character but on the other, killing his character off and having a funeral felt... like pre-emptively acknowledging that he was close to death.

Maybe that's how Val felt too. I wrote his autobiography - a very honest but at times very brief series of scenes of his life. He also made his documentary Val. And he got into painting. He was always throwing up whatever he had recently painted on Twitter. His voice was gone but he was still clearly bursting with creativity. Desperate to express himself.

I saw that he had started doing comic convention appearances. Dutifully signing Bat merchandise and glossy photos. I hope it paid some bills and let him travel. I was kind of hoping he'd come to a convention near me one day.

I want to finish on what Val meant to me as a child. I remember seeing Batman Forever as a kid and thinking this guy was the coolest guy I'd ever seen. Handsome, debonair, able to charm the pants of Nicole Kidman. I remember making a mental note to check out as many of his other films as possible and watching those films led me to three things I still hold dear today.

The Doors - who I was obsessed with during my teenage years and bought every album. I would have never got into them without seeing the film.

The Saint - I own at least 25 novels and have all the old TV shows on DVD. Again, I was first exposed to the character through the film.

Batman - I didn't really care that much about Batman before seeing Batman Forever. But that film, his performance, he made me a lifelong fan of the character.

Like every actor who dies, they aren't really dead. They live on films. I'll definitely be watching some Val this weekend in his memory and I suggest you do the same.

A look back at the Batman Unmasked exhibition

Another different type of video this week - a look back at the temporary Batman Unmasked exhibition that was in Covent Garden in London from September to December 2024 (and also Manchester before that).

I meant to get this edited last year when I actually went to the exhibition as a way to show people what it was like before they went. Unfortunately I ended up not getting around to editing it until this year, after the exhibition had closed. Oops. Oh well I guess at least I didn't spoil all the surprises.

Anyway, hope this is of interest. It was really great to see all these old Schumacher Batman movie costumes and props up close - the actual things that the actors used and wore. You could see all the scuffs and marks on them and paint was visibly peeling off some bits. There was a little bit from all the Batman movies from the last 35 years but the Schumacher stuff was what stuck out. The costumes and props from those two films are so colourful and over the top. It's probably what got me so interested in making props recently. 

When you see this stuff up close you realise how important all the camera work and lighting and effects are - because the reality is that lots of this stuff looks kinda cheap when you're eyes are inches from it. It was never built to be poured over like this or last as long as it has.

The exhibition was a little pricey and short for what you got but I'm still glad I went. I appreciate the theatricality that went into it. It certain made it feel a little grander than it actually was. 

What's On All Our Minds? Props

Bit of a different type of video this week. I've been bitten by the replica prop making bug so I'm looking to start putting together some more.

Batman Forever had such a great collection of imaginative and elaborate props. I don't know which direction to go. 

I want some challenging stuff as well as some easy ones. I want the really iconic stuff as well as the super niche stuff. Any suggestions for what to make, let me know.

Here are all the links that I put up in the video:-

The mini Nygmatech box is available from: https://www.theartoframses.com/ and Ramses' instagram link is: https://www.instagram.com/koolpropstudio/

Links to my elements to make Riddle 1 is here: https://archive.org/details/if-you-look-3 and Riddle 2 is here: https://archive.org/details/tear-one-off

Link to magazine prop photos if you want to print them off are here: https://archive.org/details/mag-architectural-diary

I'll hopefully be doing some more of these types of videos where I just talk about stuff rather than constantly showing off toys and figures so let me know if there's a topic you want me to discuss.

Batman Forever Merchandise Review - Robin figure from McFarlane

Apologies for taking so long to getting around to reviewing this figure. I actually took SO long that news just hit McFarlane will be losing the DC license next year (it's going back to Mattel - read more about that here).

Anyway, on to the figure itself. This is a nice figure. I'm a big fan of the costume in this movie. I love that it takes most of its cues from the Tim Drake comic book suit. 

Some stuff they've done well. I love that they've kept the interior of the cape yellow (lots of other toy versions skip over that). The head sculpt is good too. I don't know if it's up there with McFarlane's Poison Ivy but it's a solid representation of Chris O'Donnell. I was quite surprised that this is a completely different head sculpt from the Batman & Robin one.

I love that it comes with extra hands. I don't know why it has hands for grasping things - maybe the makers are expecting us to borrow some of the gadgets like the batarang and grapnel launcher from the Batman figure. But I do enjoy the pointing finger and open palm hand. It means you can give the character a bit more personality when you pose them. These McFarlane figures are so flexible they deserve to be put in good poses.

On to the bad, the colours of the suit are kind of flat and matt. Not the muted metallic tones that the movie version had. That's a shame. I have seen people do good custom paint jobs but I don't know that I have the skill to tackle this one.

All in all, a solid start to the Batman Forever line.

Batman Forever Merchandise Review - Batmobile vehicle from Spin Master

Although it's meant to be exclusive to Target Stores in the US I have my hands of the Spin Master "Retro Collection" Batman Forever Batmobile. I found them being sold on Amazon UK and initially they said it would ship in June! Thankfully that turned out to be false and my order got moved up to the end of January.

It's pretty surreal to see. They really have designed this to be almost indistinguishable from the original Kenner version. There are a number of changes though. It doesn't light up (but it you have some blue LED lights yu can stick them inside) and doesn't fire a missile out the front.

However, the car is much more accurate to the film. It has the headlights, the correct bonnet and the canopy slides forward. The latter is a great update as that always frustrated me about the old Kenner one that just had a hinge.

You do get a bonus figure which is nice but it's not a great representation of the Sonar Suit.

Still for £20 there's very little I can complain about. It would have been nice to get a new mold but I get that these figures are beloved by the 30/40 year old parents who will be buying them for their kids.

New audiobook - Robin Facing the Enemy read by Drew Griffin

In the run up to the release of the Batman & Robin movie, two short books aimed at kids were released alongside Michael Jan Friedman's novelisation - "Batgirl To Dare the Darkness" by Doug Moench and "Robin Facing the Enemy" by Alan Grant. Both of whom were noted comic book writers at the time. 

While the Batgirl story is set after the 1997 movie and sees her going up against Black Mask, the Robin novel is set in between the two Schumacher films and sees him finding his feet as Batman sidekick (by going off on his own... again).

It's a short, fun read and I'll do a little video with more of my feelings on it at some point in the future. There's some references to the events of Batman Forever but they aren't huge. It's maybe a stretch to call it a full fledged interquel. More of a solo spin-off.

While the Batgirl novel received a short 30 minute "audio drama" in 1997, the Robin novel didn't receive anything. 

Thankfully that has now been corrected by our resident audiobook reader - Drew Griffin (so all thanks to him, not me!) - who has done another great job and brought this story to life. I hope you all enjoy it.

Have a listen to it in the link below. It's two hours of your time and it breezes by:-