What Now?

[Dark Knight Detective]

You are right ral, but could we still honour Grissom's suggestion regarding a preliminary live blog/ commentary for Returns this Christmas?

Johnny boy, where's your patience?!

if you don't shut up about our patience i know where i'm gonna shove yours.

Stroppy, aren't we?

[Catwoman]

what the hell is stroppy?

[Dark Knight Detective]

what the hell is stroppy?

It means that you're either ill-tempered or easily annoyed.

To make things easier, why don't you just admit that I'm right about saving the chat for 2012 & we'll call it a night, okay? 

[Catwoman]

okay then yes i am very stroppy. and no, i like being difficult, and you aren't right either, so bite me.

[Dark Knight Detective]

okay then yes i am very stroppy. and no, i like being difficult, and you aren't right either, so bite me.

[Tarzan1941]

Yesterday was fun, but in no way was it a 20th anniversary for me.  It was merely the day my favorite movie came out.  I didn't get the chance to see Batman until November of 1989, in a second run theater.  And if my aging memory serves me right, the VHS had came out only a couple of days earlier.  When I get more time, I'll elaborate more on why it took me so long to get to a theater.

But to answer the question, What Now?

Well for me, there is of course the VHS debut to celebrate.  Is that lame?  For me, no.  I can clearly remember the gigantic Batman stand up they showed on TV that Wednesday, the 15th of Novemeber.  That's right folks, a simple VHS release made the news.  But it wasn't so simple was it?  Nope.  Like I read in a lot of blogs yesterday, the release of the VHS cut down on the turn around time from theater release to the home video market.  Could you imagine waiting almost a full year for the VHS to come out, so you could watch your favorite movie again?  Yeah, neither can I!  So there is that to celebrate.

Next year, I will celebrate July 7th as it will be the 20th anniversary of HBO broadcasting Batman.  I remember the promos, and watching it in prime time and staying up way late to watch it again.  Wow, that was a lot of fun!!!

Last night as I was laying in bed, tossing and turning, I realized something.  It's been 20 years of me collecting everything Batman 1989 and other Batman related items.  My collection has grown, shrunk and grown again.  It's been redefined by the number of times I have moved and it has been redefined by a new discovery of something I never knew existed.  A special shout out to Ebay and this wonderful place for broadening my mind on those wonderful toys.  Now after 20 years, I have come to the conclusion that my collection is only about 20% complete.  

There are a lot of things I would like to have, would love to have and need to have to make my collection whole and complete for me.  I don't own but one Kenner Batman figure and that is from the Returns line.  Opps, let's not forget Catwoman.  I've got her too.  But I just found the most of the toys so over the top, ridiculous and dumb that I skipped over them through out the years.  In hindsight, I may have made a mistake and maybe spending a little more for those things if I chose to include them in my collection.  I still don't own a Toy Biz Batcave or a Toy Biz Joker Van, so those are high on the list to track down.  

So what is next for me is to continue working on my collection.  Improving the over all quality of it and making it into something that I can be proud of.  I'd like to settle down and get a permanent home for my collection: a place where I can display everything without fear of dust and a child's grubby little fingers grabbing hold of my Batwing and zooming it around the room and ramming it into the wall over and over again. (Yes, I know.  It's ironic.  I'm trying to prevent a child from playing with a child's toy.)  I would like to get some high quality book shelves, glass cases and cases for all the cars, figures and everything of the like that I do own.  

I recently just transferred my collection of magazines over to fresh boxes and special bags and boards to house them in.  They're safe for now, but I feel I need to work on a better display for these as well, as this is my true passion of my collecting.  I'd still like to find the time and have the money to track down all of the Prince singles for his contribution to the film.  And I would like to work on that fan-made box set of his music which collects all the B-sides and remixes into one neat little package.  And once all of that is done, I can take pictures and share them all with you.  That is what is next for me.

[Grissom]

I love your passion. I only have about four things in terms of batman memorobilia. I know it's a shame.  but definitely I'm going to start collection various items from the film. I only got my Batman Danny Elfman Soundtrack this past Friday from Amazon! Just in time though for the anniversary.

Thanks for that July 7th date when it premiered on HBO, I'll definitely remember that.

[Paul (ral)]

Thanks for that July 7th date when it premiered on HBO, I'll definitely remember that.

likewise, info like that is great.  it would be cool to get an accurate timeline together of landmark events in Batman movie history.

[Tarzan1941]

Here are a couple more dates

BATMAN CBS Network premier: 1992 (still trying to find an exact date.)

BATMAN RETURNS HBO premier: June 5th, 1993.

BATMAN RETURNS NBC Premier: February 12, 1995.

[Batnar]

Hey, it was a main event for me when the VHS hit the video shops and rental outlets! I rented it at least over 20 times before i got a chance to buy it!
I LOVED the Loony Toons intro with the merchandise check!