All language subtitles for Jeff.Dunhams.The.Cars.That.Drove.Us.S01E05.Batmobile.1080p.DISC.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

Hi, everybody-- Jeff Dunham
again at Dunham Family Motors,

along with my buddy Peanut.
- No, no-- I am Batnut.

"Batnut?"
Wait, it's--

"No, I'm Batnut."

And why are you dressed
like this?

To fight the crime of
high car prices.

This next car wasn't built
to be bought.

It didn't come from Detroit,
Germany, or Japan.

It came from the pages
of a comic book.

Its sole mission?

Strike fear into
the hearts of criminals.

It's long, loud, armed
to the teeth, dark as night,

and driven by...

well, this dude...

If you're looking to get
yourself into something

with no cup holders, drinks
jet fuel for breakfast,

and has some accessories
that will likely result

in federal charges,

I might know a guy.

And the next baby--
A Batmobile?

No, no, it's the Batnutmobile.

Throughout time,

humanity has been obsessed
with getting places

using anything,
but their own two feet.

We've tried all
kinds of things.

- Until finally...
- Hmm.

...the greatest invention
of all time--

the automobile.

Moron!

These are--
"The Cars That Drove Us."

Comic legends Bob Kane
and Bill Finger gave

Bruce Wayne a nightlife in 1939.

And in the years
since making the...

leap from page... to screen,

there have been many
different--

- Bats?
- Well, Batmen.

Lewis, Adam, Val, George,
Kevin, Christian, Ben...

Why did you say that name?

...Robert, and of course,
Michael.

I'm Batman.

But some things...

Flash the Bat signal.

...have never changed.

Batman has always
been the Batsuit

and the Batmobile.

Arguably the most iconic
vehicle in all of pop culture.

And much like the man
steering it...

We've seen a bunch
of different executions

of the Batmobile,
each encompassing

a bit of the new and a bit
of the old.

But in 1989...

When Tim Burton's
Batmobile showed up...

Whoa!

I mean, it took it
to a new level.

...a level of Batitude

that ranks the '89 Batmobile

as quite possibly
the most iconic of them all.

The Batmobile was the star
of the picture.

And like any
superstar superhero,

the Batmobile's origin story
is one of drama,

He said, "He's crashed a car,"
I said, "No".

Suspense, and redemption.

And the whole audience spurs
into applause.

Though, thankfully...

no dead parents are involved.

But before this Batmobile
could turn heads in 1989,

a very different one would have
to turn pages in 1939.

when the first "Batman" comic
book came out.

Batman had a Batmobile.

Well, sort of.

They didn't call it
a Batmobile.

It was just a red sedan.

Not a name that strikes
fear in the hearts of criminals.

But a red sedan,
by any other name,

would actually be way cooler.

And so in "Detective Comics,"
issue 48,

the name Batmobile was born.

But why stop there?

They started changing the look
of it to blue and black,

and they put a bat symbol
in the front of it,

and they just made
this iconic vehicle.

Arguably, the most iconic
vehicle in all of pop culture.

And just in time,

because when Batman made
his big screen debut

in this 1943 serial...

Let's go!

...the Batmobile was ready for
its Hollywood green light.

Wait a minute.
Is that the red sedan?

Sorry, kids.

The first Batmobile that
we used on film was

a '39 Cadillac convertible.

If Bruce Wayne was driving it,
the top was down.

Alfred, drive into that alley
and put the top up.

If Batman was driving it,
the top was up.

How sneaky!

Well, until you get
out of the car.

Look out, Batman!
They can see you!

That's the most
ridiculous thing I've ever--

Second most ridiculous thing
I've ever heard of.

You are Superman, aren't you?

Luckily, after a couple
of decades,

things would get far
less ridiculous.

Holy sardine!

Well, at least
from an automotive perspective.

But by 1960 standards,
the Batmobile was

old technology.

It was made from something
called a Lincoln Futura.

A one-of-a-kind
Ford concept car from 1955.

Really cool looking.

Hollywood auto
fabricator,

George Barris, thought so.

He bought it from Ford
for a dollar.

What a... steal!

And when Barris got the gig...

He realized they didn't have
enough time to do this properly.

Time is getting short!

So he looked around
at what he had and thought,

"You know what?

"I can take the Futura and use
this as the foundation.

And with a fair amount
of moderator tweaking,

television and superhero
history was made.

Hey, it's the Batmobile!

That show was part of
my childhood, so

that was my first Batmobile.

Complete with Batman and Robin!

And for the next
two decades...

Fortunately, old friends,

Zayre is open 24 hours
until Christmas.

...George Barris' was
the only on-screen Batmobile.

There's some cartoon versions.

Well, sure,
for the little guys.

But other than that...

nothing.

Cut to the mid-to-late '80s,

and we find out
they're making a Batman movie.

We're dying to find out

how they're gonna
execute the Batmobile.

And in 1988, concept
designer Julian Caldow,

was one of the few
people qualified

to answer that question.

But at this point,
he was wrestling

with his own more personal
uncertainties.

And I met Anton Furst on
a movie called "High Spirits,"

where I was doing some
of the makeup.

I showed him a folio
of the sketches

that I'd been doing and said,

"I really want to get into
the art department."

Brash, confident,

this kid knew exactly
what he was doing.

And then it kind of hit me

that I didn't really know
what I was doing.

Well, he was still
brash and confident.

He'd figure it out.

But I was kind of
learning on the job.

A job that entailed
bringing Anton

and director Tim Burton's
vision of Gotham City to life.

I thought they were
the perfect gelling of

crazy minds to come up
with the way

that that whole thing looked.

A Gothic metropolis
of epic scale

and massive proportion.

But I didn't really understand
scale, proportion, et cetera.

Be patient.
He's learning on the job.

And so the art department
threw this rookie

a softball assignment.

They got me working on
the Batmobile because

I didn't understand stuff
about architecture.

The seasoned vets would
handle the gargoyles

and flying buttresses
while they tossed...

The most iconic vehicle
in all of pop culture.

...to the new guy, which was
certainly a choice.

Having to invent beautiful
Batmobile while holding in

the history of that car,

the history of the aesthetics
of Batman.

It is a really,
really difficult charge.

- Um--
- Yeah, no pressure.

Let me think.

2
First-time concept artist
Julian Caldow was under pressure

to design the Batmobile
to top all Batmobiles.

Principal photography was
four short months away.

And so Julian leapt into action.

I was starting to do little
sketches of a sporty,

'50s road car, a muscle car with
fins that was sort of similar

in vibe to the TV show.

But very soon I realized
that that wasn't gonna work.

Because this wasn't
your father's Batman.

Precisely.

It was Tim Burton's,
which means a certain...

approach would be necessary.

Anton said, "We're not
doing a car specifically,

we're doing sort
of a brutal statement."

Oh, no.

"Something that looked
quite menacing."

The concept inspired
Julian to think

outside the box...

or the bat-box.

There's no need for this thing
even to be roadworthy,

so that's when I got into
my mind the idea of...

these land-speed-record cars,

specifically the green monster,

to have this enormous intake
at the front with this point.

I mentioned this to Anton,

and he was very excited
by that idea.

Anton was so taken
with the intake

that it was taken in
to the Batmobile design.

So I had this big rocket going
down the center of the car.

That feels right.

That is like,
"That's what Batman
should have."

And it was like a piece of art.

And soon it was time
for Julian to present his art

to Anton and Tim for approval.

Tim, when he saw
a drawing that he liked,

he would have a little giggle.

And when you heard that giggle,

you knew that you were
on the right path.

And when Tim saw
Julian's drawing,

there was no giggle.

And Julian learned about
rejection on the job.

I had two little jet
cockpits either side

of this rocket engine,
and Tim said,

"I've got dialogue between
Vici Vale and Batman."

Where are we going?

"They won't be able
to hear each other."

And I said something
stupid like,

"Well, what about
they have walkie-talkies?

Where are we going?

So that was rejected
pretty quickly.

Undeterred, Julian went
back to the drawing board.

And this time--

I was taking steps from
all kinds of different decades.

The grills either side
of the car were taken

from Ferrari Testarossa.

I had these little gills
at the front, and they were

from a Corvette Stingray,

which also informed
the back of the Batmobile,

melded with a Volkswagen Beetle.

Finally, I based the cockpit on
the X-15 experimental aircraft

that Neil Armstrong was flying
in before he went into space.

And after numerous
small steps,

Julian's design was
one giant leap

from where it had begun.

And this time...

...the giggler struck.

The Batmobile had arrived.

So everybody loved it,

but the following week, we sat
and looked at the sketch,

and someone said,
"How does anybody get
into this car?"

Great question, and one
that Julian, as the designer,

should be able to answer.

I hadn't really even
thought about doors.

Maybe we have gull-wing doors
coming up on either side.

Uh, seen it before.

Probably don't wanna go
"back" to that.

Or maybe the whole cockpit
comes up like a jet.

Yeah, that too.
You could probably "top" that.

It was actually Nigel Phelps.

A production designer,
working on Gotham City.

Who said,
"Why not slide the whole thing

down the bonnet
and just jump in?"

That felt very elegant.

And with that, it looked
like the Batmobile was

finally cruising down
Easy Street.

Excuse me.

Oh-- apparently,
special effects supervisor,

John Evans would like
to have a word.

Special effects is a problem
with time and money.

Because now John
and his team had to build

a working Batmobile.

No, we had to get two,
not one built.

Two working Batmobiles.

And we had to have it
in 10 weeks.

Yeah, about that.

That's not only not enough time,

that's an absurdly small
amount of time.

I wouldn't wish it
on my worst enemy.

Neither would Warner Brothers.

So they wished it
on John Evans instead.

A special-effects man's
job is not easy.

2
With an almost
laughable deadline,

special effects supervisor,
John Evans and his team
of craftsmen were

rolling up their sleeves
to build two working Batmobiles.

We really didn't have the time
to build our own chassis.

The solution?
Two chassis-es... es.

There was a kind of an accident

that the car was
as long as it was.

Because, as
you'll remember--

I didn't really understand
scale, proportion, et cetera.

So I was not going out of
the art department

with a tape measure and looking
at the average size of a car.

Basically,
he was bat-winging it.

Um, but--

John and his special
effects team were

there to pick up the slack.

Believe it or not, when
the fiberglass body came up,

everybody was there,
and we slotted it on,

and it went on like a glove.
But then...

Duh-oh.

...all the gadgets started
to come in

from the art department.

That's right,
gadgets, such as--

Where the hook comes out.

We had two machine guns.

Which were the biggest
gadgets, but they were almost

the biggest mini gadgets.

I had encouraged Anton
to use mini guns.

I had just seen "Predator."

Having those come out
of the bonnet would be great.

Uh--

But they couldn't get a license
to get those weapons

into the UK.

That was a problem that wasn't
our problem, really.

Don't get too excited, John.

They'd find something else
for you to cram in there.

Eventually, they went
with Brownings, which armorers

in this country had access to.

But they were coming in
two weeks after we started

the design of the car,
so it caused problems.

But we did get it in the end.

But there were a few
extra features to be bolted

onto the outside
of the Batmobile.

The front intake is from
a Harrier, and the back is

from a Rolls-Royce
jet engine?

That's perfection.

The flame out of the back
of the Batmobile,

which we had to create,

it's not easy, because you've
got to get the force of it

coming across on the screen.

And I just didn't feel
we had it right.

For about a week,
we were playing around with it.

Avoid the following
combinations.

Liquid gas,
paraffin, and petrol.

Yeah, sounds safe.

We had to be careful.

Got the driver in there.

If anything went wrong
with his flame...

you've got big problems.

Luckily for the film's
insurance policy...

We did get it in the end.

And no stunt drivers
were incinerated.

But John did have reason
to worry about

one particular Batmobile driver,

the one on the movie poster.

We kept asking Michael Keaton
to sit in the Batmobile

for a fitting because
it was tight.

Can't imagine why
he wouldn't want to.

Liquid gas,
paraffin, and petrol.

You can take all
the measurements you like.

If you don't have an actual
fitting, him sitting physically

in it, you don't know.

But they were about to find out.

On the first day we shot,
first time he had jumped

into it, he was too tall,
and the ears were sticking out.

When the cockpit closed,
his ears were bent back.

Well, if anyone
had a solution,

Michael was all ears.

If you look at the scenes
inside the cockpit,

he's got these special little
ears that he's wearing.

Good luck trying to spot them.

He's sensitive about
his stubby nubbies.

But that was, again,
my ignorance.

Well, at least there was
one thing impervious to Julian's

inexperience
with a tape measure.

The paint job.

I always had the idea
that it should look like

a Beatles carapace.

It's got, like, purple and blue
and all these colors.

It's very organic.

And somehow the guys who did
the paint job managed

to emulate this thing so that
from different angles

it had different colors.

And to finish it off...

They didn't give it
a glossy finish.

Opting for satin instead.

It was really the perfect
way to kind of make it just

a little bit darker on every
level, absorbing everything

that went around.

But just
like Bruce Wayne...

Now you want to get nuts?

- Come on!
- Let's get nuts.

...satin paint
can be temperamental.

Just a little wear and tear
on it would scratch it.

There's a scene where Vici Vale
is getting out of the car,

and she throws her heel.

And the reason she did that is

she would scratch the Batmobile.

Ahh!

You weigh
a little more than 108.

The paint was
very temperamental.

Which, for the record,
was not Julian's fault.

And lucky for him, neither was
what would happen next.

Well...

2
Against all odds,
Anton Furst's art department

and John Evans'
special effects team,

designed and built
two Batmobiles

in four months' time.

Filming was well
underway when...

Anton comes in the workshop,
Sunday afternoon,

and he said, "Oh, I'd like
to drive the Batmobile."

I can't say no to him,
he's the designer.

He could send Anton off

with special-effects
team member, Andy Smith.

I said, "Be careful, don't let
him get in the driver's seat.

"Just take him up and down
Gotham City,

that-- quite at good speed,
and he'd be happy.

Sure.
Couldn't do any harm.

About 15 minutes later,

Andy Smith comes
in the workshop, white-faced.

He said, "He's crashed the car."

I said, "No."
- Yes.

And this was no
minor fender-bender.

He crashed it into one
of the lampposts.

I said, "Why did you let him
get in it?"

Luckily, Anton was fine.

But it was lights-out for
the lamppost and the Batmobile.

And I go out there,
and he smashed all the side

to the, uh, car.

If only someone
had told him to--

Stop.

Talking about you, John.

So now, this prop,
we've only got two.

Well, now one.

And at this point, it's--

Two o'clock, three o'clock,
Sunday afternoon.

We've got to have it on the set
for Monday morning.

It was time to send out
a signal for help.

So I phoned the guy up
who does the fiberglass,

told him the situation.

Plus, we had to get it
sprayed as well.

Luckily, no one else had
brunch plans that day either.

Skin of our teeth,
we got it done.

But how we got it done,
I don't know.

The Batmobile was
as good as new.

And nobody knew about it.
Only Anton and me.

Well, and the lamppost.

With the Batmobile back
in action,

Batman wrapped filming
in January of 1989

and headed
for the summer box office.

If you start lining up now,
you might get in to see it

the first couple of days.

And while this kid felt
good about it...

I think it's gonna be rad.

...others had reason
to be trepidatious.

You have to understand,
we didn't have a ton of

superhero movies, and most
of them were not just bad.

They were awful.

Hey, man, I don't wanna
mess with you.

Open the door, would you please?
I'm not feeling well.

The stakes are about as high

as they could be that it is

not dumb.

I can definitely
remember going to see it

with my family,

and there's that line where
Batman and Vici Vale

come out of the museum,
and Batman says--

- "Get the car."
- And she says,

"Which one?"

And then...

...and the whole audience
burst into applause.

And it can all be
attributed to the sure-handed

talent of the now successful
veteran production designer,

Julian Cal--

That was something
I didn't even realize

I was doing at the time, em...

And this should have been
when Julian learned

about taking credit when things
go well on the job.

The 1989 Batmobile
was an instant classic.

And while there have been many
different versions

in the years since...

They're each different
approaches to executing

an absurd comic book
in the real world.

Some, a little more
absurd than others.

Chicks dig the car.

This is why Superman
works alone.

None have quite
captured the magic

of that mythical
summer of the bat.

I was proud of it, and--
and all my team were

very proud of it.

Never got to drive it.

Shame.

There's people of a certain age,
who when they went to see it,

thought it was the best
thing they'd ever seen,

now, they're 40,

and they look back with that
movie with a lot of nostalgia.

And while you can
never truly go back--

And here's
our exclusive first look

at the $17 Batmobile.

Yeah, that hasn't stopped
some from trying.

Jumping into the Batmobile...

Oh.

Oh, OK, it-- gently

easing into the Batmobile...

is like jumping into the pages
of a comic book

with nothing but open road
and crime to fight ahead of you.

Because it's more than a car.

It's every bit a crime-fighting
hero itself, worthy of sharing

the screen with arguably
the most iconic superhero

of all time.

I'm Batman.

I kill you!