Batman movie compilation article

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Batman movie compilation article

From: Baneful \| Posted: 6/22/2005 2:00:48 AM \|
	Batman movie compilation article http://www.nytimes.com/pages/movies/moviesspecial/index.html?excamp=GGGNbatman Pretty good read if you ask me.

From: Dave \| Posted: 6/22/2005 2:51:47 AM \|
	RE: Batman movie compilation article You need to be a NYTimes.com subscriber to read. Can you copy and past it here?

From: Baneful \| Posted: 6/22/2005 3:10:28 AM \|
	RE: Batman movie compilation article You're right. I didn't know. I was basically browsing through the old reviews.

From: Webmaster \| Posted: 6/22/2005 1:41:48 PM \|
	What Would Batman Drive? These Days, an Assault Vehicle THREE words that have always signaled high drama ahead - "To the Batmobile!" - will ring out in movie theaters again next year. This time, though, when they see his new set of wheels, his loyal fans may wonder if the Caped Crusader has become just another shopper taking advantage of those generous cash rebates. Even though the film, "Batman Begins," won't be released until next June, the Warner Brothers studio recently showed off the vehicle that will co-star with Christian Bale. The superhero's jet-powered machine was displayed in Manhattan at Licensing 2004 International, a trade show held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. The appearance of the vehicle is a reminder of how important sales of toys and other paraphernalia are to the Batman franchise - and of how many different toy Batmobiles there have been. But no Batmobile before has looked remotely like this one. Gone is the sleek, black form topped by winglike fins. The new car is a squat assemblage of faceted panels and monster-truck wheels, part Stealth fighter, part Mad Max. The new Batmobile is a sport-utility vehicle. It is also a military vehicle. It has four enormous tires at the back - fresh off a swamp buggy, by the looks of them - and a body that is covered in armored plates like a stegosaurus. Nine feet wide and 15 feet long, the vehicle has been named the Tumbler for its acrobatic powers. For an action film, the right car is as important as the right star - or a great chase scene. The director, Christopher Nolan, whose credits include the cult classic "Memento," has said the Batmobile is the key to the dramatic essence of the film, not just to the look and feel of it. Batmobiles of the past have been appropriate to their times and this one is no exception: it seems just the ride one might need in, say, Baghdad. Batmobiles have traditionally been an extension of Batman's mask and cape. The first bat vehicle was an a batgyro, and according to Bill Spencer, a model builder who maintains an extensive Web site of Batmobile lore at www.batmanytb.com, the first vehicle in the comic books was a fairly conventional car with a bat mask at the front that appeared in 1941. "Batman Begins" is a prequel. It carries the story back to the days when 25-year-old Bruce Wayne was picking through the technology cast aside by Wayne Industries (which was, among other things, a military contractor) after it had been taken over by indignant stockholders. This theme, too, echoes in 2004. The new Batmobile is a far cry from bat vehicles of the past. The best-known of the Caped Crusader's cars is still the one created by George Barris for the 1966-68 ABC television series. Hired just three weeks before filming was to start, Mr. Barris did not have time to build an entirely new car, so he modified a Ford design study, the Lincoln Futura, that had been produced for display at auto shows in 1955. In the process of restyling the Futura, Mr. Barris was able to retain the car's double-bubble windshield for Batman and Robin. The car's body was based on the bat face, Mr. Barris has said. The nose became a chain slicer. The grille was the mouth. The headlights represented ears, and the fins suggested Batman's flowing cape. Several spares were built; one resides in the Volo Auto Museum in Volo, Ill. The first Batmobile weighed 5.5 tons, and although it actually had a 427 -cubic-inch Ford V-8, the script asked viewers to believe that it was "atomic powered" by a reactor in the Batcave. It came with a full complement of features: Batphone, Batscope, Detect-a-scope, Bat Laser, Batmobile Tracking Map, Batram, Batmobile Mobile Crime Computer and parachutes for sudden stops. The Batmobile used in the television series brought lasting recognition for Mr. Barris. His name was already known through the work of his Southern California customizing shop, which modified cars for Hollywood clients and produced pop icons like the Munster's Koach. His reputation was sealed when Tom Wolfe celebrated him as a major cultural figure and artist in "The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby." Just as vital to Batmobile history was the long, black 1989 Batmobile that served in both of Tim Burton's films, "Batman" and "Batman Returns," before being retired to the car-show circuit. Looking like a cross between a Bonneville speed record car and an X-15 rocket plane, the vehicle is laden with James Bond gadgetry and a "Batmissile" high-speed mode. Created from sketches by the now-legendary production designer Anton Furst, the 1989 Batmobile was just right for the dark, gothic post-Bladerunner Gotham of Tim Burton's vision. It became the car that kids wanted to be photographed next to, and in 1999 it was used in television advertising by Campbell-Ewald, the agency for OnStar, the communications service. The commercial said: "OnStar. How may I help you, Batman?" For the later Joel Schumaker films, "Batman Forever" in 1995 and "Batman and Robin" in 1997, the basic Batmobile was slightly modified with body ripples, a central fin and flashing lights in front. Harald Belker, who later designed the futuristic Lexus for "Minority Report," worked on the "Batman and Robin" car. "Chicks dig the car!" exclaimed Robin in the movie, but there was no room for him; he was stuck on a motorcycle called the Redbird. Why did the studio show off Batman's new set of wheels a year before the movie is to be released? Was it concerned that fans might need a year to warm up to a radically different Batmobile? The vehicle for "Batman Begins," said Mr. Spencer, the Web site operator, has sparked controversy among fans. "It's a pretty big departure from previous Batmobiles," he said. "Instead of a smooth, cohesive design, like most other Batmobiles, it looks more like it has been cobbled together from parts of other machines. "But, I think that can work," Mr. Spencer said. "With 'Batman Begins' taking place at the beginning of Batman's career, it seems right that the car would lack the more stylized look of later cars," he said. The critical difference is that the next Batmobile, the Tumbler, is a military vehicle, and perhaps just the right reflection of the state of the world now. Its appearance brings to mind the Stryker, an armored troop carrier that is the transportation centerpiece of the government's "objective force" philosophy, a concept for a lighter and more mobile military. The Stryker is swift and quiet with a top speed of 60 miles an hour. Batman's latest vehicle, conversely, has a theoretical top speed of 220 m.p.h., and it can jump into the air, the better to avoid insurgent attacks. But that, unfortunately, is just in the movies.

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