@@wwb16 it did. Arkham asylum was shown in an old episode. A really psycho episode. Someone opened all the doors and all of of a sudden you hear Penguin laughing.
The costumer for Batman was a genius. From the Bookworm's suit to King Tut's pharaoh costume he made the costumes not only original to the actors but comfortable enough for them to act without being restrained by what their wearing.
The only thing Roddy McDowall didn't like about being on Batman was the costume he had to wear as he said it was incredibly hot to wear under the stage lights.
Roddy McDowell was the Perfect cast for The Mad Hatter 🎩 and I'm kind of sad that he passed away in 1998 the last time that he voiced the Mad Hatter is kight time in Superman the animated series
@@DavidLopez-yt2ypYeah, it just sucks how abridged the audiobook for 1989 Batman is in comparison to the novel but I'm sure they did it for cost and production concerns.
I have the belief that any comic character, whether they be silly, dumb, or stupid, has the ability to become a great character if they are given the right writer and characterization.
Roddy McDowall loved playing the Bookworm (although he said the costume was very hot)-the story goes that he wrote producer William Dozier to thank him for his time on the set and that he would love to do further episodes of Batman--sadly this was the only episode he got to do-likely because ABC and Greenwood Productions cut the budget for the show to a "shoestring" by the end of the second season
I'll say this. In a modern Batman project, The Bookworm could work really well as a modern villain. I mean, he already has the obsessive psychosis thing that most of Batman's rogues have down in this series alone. Psychotic rage, the lack of originality, the bibliophilla/bibliomania. Speaking as someone on the spectrum myself, I can't help but feel there might be signs of Aspergers in the character as well, given how quickly and quietly he seems to absorb knowledge from his prized tomes with such concentration, plus the fact that he seems to have trouble understanding or meeting people on their emotional levels.
My school teacher Grandmother taught me to read and write at age 5. From that moment I always had a book in my hand. The kids in school nicknamed me 'Bookworm". I used to hate it until I 1st saw Roddy Mac in this role. I've worn the name with pride since then. R.I.P RODDY MAC.
You’re not alone in this world. I too love to read. I’m a fan of Edgar Allan Poe’s works and Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking Glass. I’m also interested in Sir Arthur’s Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
@@savannablankenship2427 JRR Tolkien is my favorite author. I think I have every book he has written; including The Silmarillion which I am now re-reading for the 3rd time. I am hoping Peter Jackson will complete his plan to film it into another trilogy.
Bookworm along with his fantastic mind reading an entire book called “The Secret of Success: Self-Control” in the matter of seconds by smoothing out the pages
@@bufnyfan1 He was also upset with the fact he never got to show his real face in either episode. That is why you see "Special Guest Villian - ? as False Face". at the beginning of both episodes and after the cliffhanger. He only sanctioned the use of his name at finale. Still a very good storyline.
When he screams "Why?!" as The Bookworm, he sounds almost exactly as in "Batman TAS" episode "Perchance to a Dream" when Mad Hatter tells Batman why he trapped him into fantasy world ("You, of all people, have the gall to ask me that? You ruined my life! I was willing to give you whatever life you wanted, just to keep you out of mine!").
Roddy McDowell was great at this role. There was also another role he was famous for that people forget. He played Peter Vincent, the tv vampire killer in the hit 80's horror movie Fright Night with William Ragsdale and Chris Sarandon.
RIP Francine York ("Miss Limpett"). She once said that she never married because "No Prince Charming ever came along with a size 10 slipper" What a tragedy
RIP Roddy McDowell, the soft-spoken & underrated legend 👏🏻 (Fright Night's Peter Vincent - Vampire Hunter🧛🏻♂️🦇, Black Hole's V.I.N.cent🌀, Planet of the Apes Cornelius [& Galen]🦍🦍, Batman's Bookworm📚 [&Batman TAS's Mad Hatter🎩!], The Invaders Lloyd Lindstrom👽🛸, Buck Rogers Govoner Soroyan🚀& Hell House's Ben Fischer🏚️)... my fav roles of his... 👏🏻👍🏻🙂
You left out one of his other horror fantasy turns as the very first protagonist in The Night Gallery TV movie pilot. One of the best overall made for TV movies.
McDowell's calm and whispering like tone of his voice while giving the "Books,books...I inherit the wisdom..." lines worked really well, giving the character a sort of mental stability/thinking man's villain.
The henchmen were aptly named but naming the moll Lydia only works if she was tattooed with literary quotes under that red frock. The writers must have been out to lunch when they missed the opportunity to name her Paige Turner.
Pre-Cornelius is really pissed off here at times, but at least he got his vision fixed in time to read the ancient scrolls without having to wear the goggle glasses.
There's an old Bugs Bunny cartoon where Bugs does put on a pair of glasses and says to his antagonist you wouldn't hit a guy with glasses would you whereupon said bad guy nails him right in the face comically breaking the glasses and Bugs replying you know I believe he would!
Definitely one of the one-off characters that deserved another go. Roddy's over the top portrayal fits right into this series, even though it didn't originate in the comics. I was looking for that harpsichord music too 🎹🎹🎵
Nelson Riddle composed the music for Batman 1966. He also composed the score for Kubrick's "Lolita" (1962.) When he started on the music for the Bookworm episodes, Riddle re-used some incidental music from "Lolita." If you watch that movie, the "Bookworm" theme pops up within the first 5-10 minutes! :)
The costumes and sets and props on this series were awesome. That's part of why I love having the blu-ray set so much; you can see _so much_ detail now.
I just finished watching the first double-episode with the Bookworm, and I must say I really enjoyed it! I like how, while not doing a complete 180, it took a turn towards being a bit more serious. Greatly helped by Roddy's acting.
Roddy McDowell ("Bookworm") loved being on Batman. He wrote a letter telling producer William Dozier how much he enjoyed doing the role and hoped to be able to do it again. Unfortunately by the second season, ABC/Greenwood Productions were cutting the budget so much that it simply didn't happen
My god... To be cursed with his incredible intellect and memory, a love for the written word and a desire to contribute to it, and no sense of creativity that he's aware of... That's the kind of madness that can only happen in Batman stories. DC, you need to bring Bookworm into modern Batman lore.
I remembered Bookworm though I had forgotten the bit about the leather jacket. Interestingly, there was a one-shot Bat-villain in the comic books (decades later) that used some of the same motif. Corpses start showing up in Gotham, each dressed in a numbered leather jacket. "The Librarian" was a frustrated librarian, unhinged by the profession's rejection of his arguments that there was a grievous error in the Dewey Decimal System and some subject was assigned the incorrect number. So he goes on a spree - selecting people who correspond in some way to a Dewey Decimal category (like a housewife to "domestic science" or "cooking", and a golf pro to "sports"), kidnapping them, killing them, and dressing the body in a leather jacket with the number corresponding to the Dewey Decimal number for the subject.
Interesting casting coincidence, the actor who played "Printer's Devil" also played McDowell's older brother in an episode of the original Mission Impossible called "The Puppet"
Roddy McDowall was a talented actor. I enjoyed his performance in the Planet of the Apes movies and tv series. He did the voice of Vincent the robot in The Black Hole and the Madhatter in Batman the animated series.
Somehow I can actually see him coming almost clean as he did in Gotham Academy. I mean he did help Olive, and then her friends save her (sort of) despite the crook scheme.
I just composed two compositions about this video or inspired by this video. It is original music and the videos are original. One is a song for Roddy with the bookworm costume in the thumbnail and the lyrics are inspired by this video.
The Bookworms costume was made to look like leather book binding material, and also notice the gold colored trim, like some books have. I liked that reading light on his hat.
Bookworm was a interesting character but he wasn't a dc comic character but maybe he was there is Cluemaster and The Ridder and Madhater so many but Bookworm was a mystery but he might of been the Ridders brother twin brother in the comic's? But I did like this character he was a little bit different to the rest using books to help his criminal empire and there was one thing it was books on magic I do seem to think he might of used them to? He did appear in the cartoon Batman & Robin series as well back then and so how was using spells and magic and other ancient texts but what was his real name that Bookworm it was very similar to a villain in dc comics who was a warlock and used magic? Roddy McDwall was brilliant he played this role perfectly I am guessing while doing this role he was playing a major role in the first Planet Of The Apes or was in Columbo which he also was brilliant and not forgetting he was in other television roles and then years later Fright Night insertingly was Adam West was offered the role he was in? And a couple Twilight Zones episodes and Outer Limits etc.
The man had a massive career playing interesting characters. Began when he was a little kid in the 1940's. Peter Vincent was a great role and a fun homage to TV horror hosts and also to horror actors like "Peter" Cushing and "Vincent" Price. Fright Night is my favorite vampire flick.
1,000 decibels would be heard all over the world. 310 decibels was heard 3,000 miles away and traveled seven times around the world. Even if it were somehow focused on s target, it would be obliterated.
"What was I saying before you interrupted me?" "Oh, what feeble memories you have." Says the man who can't remember what he was saying before he was interrupted...
