A Look at 10 Actors who were “The Joker”

Before I even begin, no I have not seen the new “Joker” movie that just came out. What I know about it comes from trailers and critical opinion. That being said…

This one is a long a time coming my friends, and this is a great time to do it being Halloween and all. I talked about Lex Luthor’s live versions a long while back, and if there is any DC villain bigger and more popular than Luthor it’s Joker. The Joker is the perfect enemy for Batman, since Joker is all about chaos and anarchy. Joker has evolved over the decades, going from silly in The Sliver Age to playfully psychotic in the Bronze Age to just plain sadistic in more modern times. And as you can imagine, he has been brought to life several times in TV, movies, and animation.

So since the new movie has come out I figured it would be fun to finally run down the actor’s who have brought the Clown Prince of Crime to life. Here is a run down of The Joker in media. This is not a “top 10” list, because there’s no point, just an overview. No cameos, just full on screen appearances and yes I know I’ll be leaving a lot off with all his video game and direct to dvd appearances out there.


Cesar Romero (Batman TV show)

I’ve said before that Romero’s take is under appreciated. He really put his all in it and made the character popular again (he had faded in the comics). Who doesn’t know that iconic laugh? There are two big problems with this Joker. One is unavoidable, that Joker is not a killer. No on one this show is. The other is there nothing persona; between him and Batman. In the show he is just another one of Batman’s wacky villains, which kind of hurts the character. In fact in the Batman movie Joker basically becomes a henchman for Penguin, though still getting in a few good lines.

1000th Blog Special-Why 1984 Was the Best Year Ever!

Ten months ago I said that this year would mark my 1000th blog and I would celebrate with follow up’s and reposts of old stuff. Well my friends today we have done it, 1000 blogs starting in August of 2011. I can’t express my appreciation enough for those of you who come back and read these silly things I post. These blog’s have become a very important way for me to share things I love, and to escape the stresses of the real world. I went back and forth on what I should talk about for this, and then I remembered this old idea. It was one I always wanted to do but never got around to it. So since it was an old idea I always wanted to do and the anniversary lines up, here we go.

“1984” was a George Orwell book regarding a dystopian future. The funny thing though is that 1984 was one of the best year’s EVER. And I don’t just mean because I  turned 10 at the end of it. There are hardly any year’s that managed the success that year did in the world of TV, movies, and music. So since it’s the 35th anniversary, let’s do an overview.



TV:

The new show’s that debuted that year included:

Night Court

This show came along as a mid-season replacement and would stuck around for several years.

Ten Favorite Movie Closing Songs

It’s well known that a lot of movies these days will have post credit scenes as a way to keep the audience watching. But sometimes you don’t need more scenes or bloopers, all you need is a kick ass song which people want to stick around and hear. Most of the tine when the credits roll and the lights come up, we walk out and that’s it. Or turn the tv off. Some tv stations will cut the music off entirely and speed thru the credits. But when the marriage between a song and a movie is perfect, so that you can’t imagine one without the other, you have to stay until the song is over for the experience to be complete. Even if you’re watching the movie at home for the tenth time.





Here are ten examples of what I mean. For this list I didn’t want credits that showed scenes or had dialogue. Just the credits with the black screen (or minimal images) and that fantastic song playing over it. Because sometimes if its the right song that’s all you need!




Titanic
One of the things that made thus movie amazing was the score. My Heart Goes On was a great song for this movie, and the transition to the full song is just wonderful.

(best video I could find)

The Perfect Live Action (TV) “Justice League” ??

If you’re a fan of the DC TV Universe than you know the big news for this fall is the adaptation of Crisis on Infinite Earth’s that is coming. This looks huge, and one of the coolest aspect is that characters from other DC shows are appearing including Tom Welling and Erica Durance from Smallville (just for starters!). I love this because it validates these past shows as having happened and existing, just on a parallel Earth somewhere. So if all these shows, and characters, exist than you have to wonder..what if they could all exist together??

So just for fun, let’s take the best of the various DC shows, from any era but only from live action TV, and see what we can come up with. And some characters never appeared on a tv show so Green Lantern will be sadly omitted.







Superman-Dean Cain

Tough choice was an understatement here. Who do you choose? The classic George Reeves version? The pretty cool Dean Cain version? How about the Tyler Hoechlin version we’ve had in Supergirl? Tom Welling who was fantastic on Smallville? Well as hard a decision as it was as far as TV Superman’s go I think Dean Cain for being the one who filled all the roles. I had a tough time deciding between him and Welling but as I have said before, Welling never officially was Superman on the show, if I picking Clark Kent he would win. I feel bad always picking on him for that but there it is.

Random Thoughts-Are Multi-Camera Sitcoms Becoming Extinct?

When The Big Bang Theory ended it also seemingly ended something that has been around for ages. The multi camera setup that so many sitcoms use. You know, three cameras on a stage while a studio audience watches? Many of the greatest shows ever made utilize this method, starting with Lucille Ball herself on I Love Lucy all the way to  Mary Tyler Moore  to Family Ties to Cosby to Seinfeld to Friends to Will & Grace to Everybody Loves Raymond (and dozens more). These differ from Single camera shows, poorly named for a show which uses more of a movie format than the three camera one with no studio audience or (usually) a laugh track. These have been around for ages too. From Andy Griffith to The Munsters to The Brady Bunch to Happy Days first two seasons to MASH to Doogie Howser, M.D.—there are plenty of classic examples of that format.



While single camera is great, for me it’s the classic multi camera show that I am a sucker for. It just doesn’t feel like a real sitcom when it isn’t.  It was one of the things I liked about The Big Bang Theory, that it was a traditional sitcom! I like shows like The Wonder Years for example, but it’s a different feeling when watching single camera shows as opposed to a multi camera show like Frasier. In 1988 The Wonder Years won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series and I was appalled. How is that show a comedy?  I still don’t quite get it. Last week I watched the Emmy Awards and as they went through the nominee’s for outstanding comedy show, they were all single camera shows which felt like light drama’s more than a “sitcom”. And don’t get me wrong, I am sure Barry and all the others out there are fine. But to me, that just isn’t a sitcom!

Top 10 Members of the “Superman Family”

Superman supporting characters aren’t quite as lush as the Batman one’s, so this list was a little harder. But after 80 years Superman has managed a decent array of supporting characters. Like last time, no villains and no colleagues that weren’t originated in the Superman books (like Wonder Woman, etc).

#10.Jor-El

This one may seem kind of strange, kind of like putting Thomas Wayne on the Batman list. But over the years Jor-El has made lots of appearances and of course we’ve seen lots of flashbacks expalinin who this guy was and why he sent his only son to Earth as his planet exploded.

Top 10 Favorite Batman Family Members

So today (or yesterday) is Batman day. For some reason. Yeah, can someone explain that one to me? But since it is also his 80th anniversary this year, I guess a little celebrating can’t hurt. And while I covered a lot of Batman stories and inceptions, and his villains, one thing I never discussed was his supporting cast. Batman has one of the best supporting cast of any superhero, and today I’m going to look at the my ten favorites.

 

I kind mentioned this when I went over five characters I did not like. But today I wanted to take a look at the awesome characters I do like. The only rule is that these have to be a “Batman” family character, so heroes and/or colleagues like Superman are off the list. And no villains, with one notable exception.



#10.Cassandra Cain

Why so high on the list? I barely know anything about her. What I do came from the AT4W retrospective earlier this year. But from what I understand she is a very unqiue character who really made a mark for herself as the second Batgirl.