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That Time Adam West, TV's 'Batman', Also Advocated For Videogames (twitter.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the Pow!-Biff!-Whack! dept.

Adam West, star of the 1960s TV series Batman, has died at age 88. An anonymous reader shares a memory of that time the 53-year-old actor wrote an op-ed for a 1982 issue of Videogame and Computer Gaming Illustrated. "I've been playing with computers longer than most," West wrote on page 6. [PDF] "I had onboard computers in Robinson Crusoe on Mars, having learned in an episode of TV's The Outer Limits that you can't survive on the Red Planet without them. Then, of course, I was up to my cowl in computers as television's Batman... In 1966, when the series began its three season run, all of that was science fiction. Computers were playthings of the researchers at MIT... Today, a lot of the apparatus we had in Batman -- dressed, of course, in less imposing names -- is fact. And we're lucky this is so."

West called videogames "an ideal means to broaden the imaginations of young people," saying the medium "can expand our awareness of the world as it is, was, or might be. The medium is still in its infancy, but read this again in a few years and see if this prediction hasn't come true: as videogaming grows, we will grow."
My favorite story is how West was cast as Batman after the show's producer spotted his performance as super-spy Agent Q in a commercial for Nestle Quik. And CNN also remembers that "later in life, West made appearances on the animated series 'Family Guy' as Mayor Adam West, the oddball leader of Quahog, Rhode Island."

38 comments

  1. Simple question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Who cares? How is this news for nerds, stuff that matters? How does this affect anyone at all? Why should I or any other normal people care in the least about Adam West advocating for video games? I'll be censored by the moderators and my post will end up at -1 to dodge the question. I also expect ad hominem logical fallacies and personal attacks from people who are angry that they can't answer this question. That will just prove me right, that this matters to exactly no one at all. Can anyone tell me why anyone should care about this? The answer is no.

    1. Re:Simple question by ToTheStars · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Adam West is best known for starring in the lead role of a TV adaptation of a comic book. His death is obviously news for nerds (and I'm sorry to hear he's gone). That he wrote an op-ed for a 1982 computer gaming magazine is even nerdier -- comics, computers, the '80's, that's like triple nerddom crossover.

    2. Re: Simple question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Slashdot got rid of that "news for nerds, stuff that matters" catchline a long time ago. It is now unofficially "whatever gets people to click articles".

    3. Re: Simple question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Slashdot and all registered users can suck my DAMN balls

    4. Re:Simple question by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      Adam West is best known for starring in the lead role of a TV adaptation of a comic book.

      For those who don't know, the parent is obviously referring to his recurring role as "Catman" on The Fairly Oddparents.

      Farewell, Adam West. I enjoyed your work - and the fact that you had absolutely no trouble making fun of your own career.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    5. Re: Simple question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not knowing what censorship means invalidates everything you say.

    6. Re: Simple question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's swirly time for you, NERD

    7. Re: Simple question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Slashdot and all registered users can suck my DAMN balls

      Only if we can find them...

    8. Re: Simple question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      my DAMN balls are in your MOUTH and this is +5, informative

    9. Re: Simple question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whatever makes you feel good about yourself Cat Dick.

    10. Re: Simple question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I dare you faggot.

    11. Re: Simple question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm dunking your goddamn head in the TOILET tonight fucko

    12. Re:Simple question by hey! · · Score: 1

      A question you might ask yourself...

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    13. Re: Simple question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Slashdot and all registered users can suck my DAMN balls

      Have they descended yet?

      heh, captcha = trapped.

    14. Re: Simple question by ArylAkamov · · Score: 1

      Joke's on them, nobody RTFA.

    15. Re:Simple question by Creepy · · Score: 1

      Video games were popular in 1982, like incredibly popular, as in a multi-billion dollar industry. The 2600 was still around, but showing its age. Mattel's Intellivision was starting to chip at its market share and ColecoVision came out that year. Computer gaming was taking off as well. Then 1983 happened. The video game industry went from $3+ billion (almost 8 billion adjusted for inflation) to $100 million industry over the next two years. Video gaming was declared a dead fad in the United States and virtually disappeared. The US may have given up, but Japan didn't - they released the NES into the US market in 1986 and it was raking in $5 billion by 1989 with a virtual monopoly on consoles (some late comers like Sega Genesis had some market share, but Nintendo dominated).

    16. Re:Simple question by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      Video games were popular in 1982, like incredibly popular, as in a multi-billion dollar industry. The 2600 was still around, but showing its age. Mattel's Intellivision was starting to chip at its market share and ColecoVision came out that year. Computer gaming was taking off as well. Then 1983 happened. The video game industry went from $3+ billion (almost 8 billion adjusted for inflation) to $100 million industry over the next two years. Video gaming was declared a dead fad in the United States and virtually disappeared. The US may have given up, but Japan didn't - they released the NES into the US market in 1986 and it was raking in $5 billion by 1989 with a virtual monopoly on consoles (some late comers like Sega Genesis had some market share, but Nintendo dominated).

      The video game crash of the early 80s was the result of crap being released and shovelled in front of the user. Retailers were buying up tons of video games because consumers were demanding it, and tons of developers were exploiting this, releasing half-done crap. Eventually the consumers got fed up with buying another crap game and stopped buying games altogether, leading to the crash where retailers were suddenly holding stock in tons of cartridges and no one was buying.

      ET did not kill it - after all, the landfill contained ET, but it contained many other more popular Atari games as well. In fact, ET only made up a small part of the recovered cartridges - around 20% or so. The rest were all the more popular Atari mainstays, having been returned by retailers.

      Nintendo would succeed with the NES for two reasons. First, they implemented an early DRM with the NES10 chip, which made sure that only games approved by Nintendo will make it onto the market. (Remember, a flood of crap was the cause of the crash, so by controlling who could make games, you could ensure only high quality games were released). Second, the NES was never sold as a video game system - no retailer was willing to take another chance on video games, so Nintendo sold the NES as an electronic toy.

      This would be critical - because toy stores still are separated into girls and boys, and thus Nintendo could only market their system to one group, of which they chose boys. This may have been a primary influence to the male domination of computer science - prior to the crash, you had representations of the entire family from mom and dad to the daughter and son on everything. After the crash and Nintendo, ads featured primarily boys. Enough so that even regular people saw video games as something kids do despite it actually being a mostly adult hobby (most gamers are adults).

      And we're seeing the crap come out again - Google Play, Apple App Store are filled with crap apps (even Apple's moderation still results in billions of crap being added). And Steam is having the same problem as well - lots of crap showing up everywhere - it seems everyone and their dog is creating a game with the canned textures and models that stuff like Unity come with and releasing it. Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony have tightened their approval policies trying to keep the crap from flooding their markets.

  2. RIP Adam west! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The greatest Batman to hit our televisions ever!

    1. Re:RIP Adam west! by Bahamut_Omega · · Score: 1

      A twenty one gun salute for a damned fine bat.

      Some of us who were born after the initial run can still find the "West"ern Bat was still the superior species of Bat.

    2. Re:RIP Adam west! by RDW · · Score: 1

      If anyone doubts Adam West was the greatest, here is the definitive analysis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    3. Re: RIP Adam west! by ed1park · · Score: 1

      Don't forget the great Batusi! Even had Travolta and Uma doing it in Pulp Fiction. Ha!

      https://youtu.be/RsYA8Gr5NTY

      RIP

    4. Re: RIP Adam west! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For an 8 year old nerd who saw the original broadcasts (or soon after), Batman was a delight with all those single purpose bat-computers and bat-gadgets and of course the rocket-firing Batmobile. I'm sure I made my first grappling-hook because of Batman but walking up walls wasn't as easy as it looked.

      I'm not sure how much of what makes it still fun to watch I understood then: the cartoonish pop-art design, the mad plots, ubiquitous bat-prefixes, nobody dying, but probably not the main attraction, the deadpan acting of the cast - no matter how ridiculous the lines - especially Adam West's straight-faced moralistic explanations to the ever-puzzled Robin (there's something of him in Father Dougal), though now I see the twinkle in his eye. I wasn't interested in Batgirl or Catwoman though.

      It's not quite up there with Star Trek but it deserves a place in the nerd's Pantheon.

    5. Re: RIP Adam west! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Until "Batman", West was known primarily as a Dramatic Actor. If you have never seen "Robinson Crusoe On Mars", check it out. For a very small budget, it was an extremely well-done film; much better than the title might suggest.
        West's portrayal of Batman as the only member of the Cast who was not let in on the Joke- This isn't a Comic Book Series like all of the others, this was a parody of them. But West played it straight, and that was what made it work. He found the Humor off-set. There was one Promo pic of him and Ward in Costume gazing intently at a copy of "Mad Magazine". They were on the Cover. (I think that it actually was printed in "Mad Magazine"...)
      He and Leslie Nielsen had a lot in common, finding their later careers anchored in Comedy. Nielsen had his own Sci-Fi Classic- "Forbidden Planet", based on Shakespeare rather than Defoe.
      FWIW, I was interested in Batgirl. Craig was then in "Star Trek's" "Whom Gods Destroy" as Marta. Yowza.

    6. Re: RIP Adam west! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thanks, I'll look out for Robinson Crusoe. Forbidden Planet is an excellent film: great design and special effects, a clever and interesting story and really quite scary. Even the robot isn't annoying. Funnily enough, Frank Drebin came to mind when I was thinking about Adam West's acting style as Batman.

  3. Et tu slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Starting headlines with "That time when"

  4. Some days, you just can't get rid of a bomb! by SpankiMonki · · Score: 4, Informative

    RIP Adam West

  5. The bomb finally went off :( by jensend · · Score: 1

    Holy heart failure!

    51 year time bomb.

  6. The caped cadaver by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    To the batgrave, Robin!

    1. Re:The caped cadaver by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1

      Too soon. :^(

  7. A man who enjoys his taffy by jfdavis668 · · Score: 1

    I'm so glad he found more recent fame as Mayor Adam West on Family Guy. I'll miss his humor.

    1. Re:A man who enjoys his taffy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm so glad he found more recent fame as Mayor Adam West on Family Guy. I'll miss his humor.

      I kept waiting for the other characters on FG to reference the fact that Mayor Adam West was indeed the same Adam West of "Batman" TV fame. AFAIK, that never happened; maybe when they have a send-off episode they'll do it. My first image when I think of Mayor West is him launching cats from a crossbow "cat"-apault at a pizza delivery boy ("C'mere Buttons, C'mere Mittens, C'mere Fred-heh, Fred! that's a silly name for a cat! Ha, Fred's a person's name!").

      RIP, and well done!*

      (*No, that's not a cremation joke).

    2. Re:A man who enjoys his taffy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      (*No, that's not a cremation joke).

      Is it a Cannibalism joke?

      Fun fact, the cast of Batman and Gilligan's Island competed on an episode of Family Feud.

    3. Re:A man who enjoys his taffy by aussie_a · · Score: 1

      Pretty sure he referenced being batman in one of his ramblings "I use to be batman you know" or "What I wouldnt' do to have a good old batarang".

    4. Re:A man who enjoys his taffy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This should be illegal

    5. Re:A man who enjoys his taffy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pretty sure he referenced being batman in one of his ramblings "I use to be batman you know" or "What I wouldnt' do to have a good old batarang".

      Yes my bad, I had forgotten! Thanks for the chuckle, btw.

  8. Damn..... by MerlTurkin · · Score: 2

    I met him years ago, what a really nice man! Very personable too. RIP Adam.....

  9. Farewell, Adam West by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 3, Funny

    Mayor Adam West was not available for comment.

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    #DeleteFacebook
  10. Starring Adam West by antdude · · Score: 1

    RIP! I just saw http://starringadamwest.com/ last month. It was good. Check it out if you haven't seen it.

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).