Let’s Roll, Kato!
– – I was enjoying the Syfy channel’s marathon on the classic 1966-67 The Green Hornet tv series which aired in my area Tuesday night.- -Yes, I enjoyed it…and yes, I do need to get a life!
Unlike the far more successful Adam West Batman series of the same time period, the Green Hornet was not intended to be high camp, and may have failed for that reason as well as for its lack of wildly outrageous villains which helped make Batman memorable.
While hokey, contrived, and dated by today’s standards, The Green Hornet tv series can still be appreciated on a variety of levels, most notably for Bruce Lee’s Kato and the fight scenes. While Van Williams as The Green Hornet tended to throw haymakers at his opponents until they collapsed, Lee’s Kato launched devastating precision martial arts attacks, at times effortlessly decking multiple opponents. He was the real deal as well, and The Green Hornet served to introduce Lee to an American audience, foreshadowing roles where he wouldn’t have to play a valet.
With its 1960’s hairstyles, clothing, and vehicles I’ve accordingly got a soft spot for the old series, and it was good to see it taken out of mothballs in anticipation of the upcoming The Green Hornet movie. I wish them well, and may they be worthy of their heritage!
Tags: The Green Hornet tv series
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
FOXSYLVANIA 
January 14, 2011 at 12:48 am
A little bit of trivia for those under age-40. THE GREEN HORNET was originally a radio show. In fact, it was technically a spin-off of another radio show, created by the same producer: Fran(cis) Striker’s THE LONE RANGER. With the former being the grandnephew of the latter!
Both sets of characters ultimately wound up being adapted (like Batman and Robin) for black and white movie-serials. With the first chapter of the GH serial revealing how Britt Reid and Kato had witnessed the ferocity of Africa’s green hornet(s) while on safari.
And, as the “Lone Ranger” TV series, starring Clayton Moore, proved to half an exceptionally long run during the 1950’s, William Dozier (creator of the BATMAN series w/Adam West) hoped for similar longevity with a GH-based spin-off through the Sixties.
Alas! T’was not to “bee.”
LikeLike
January 14, 2011 at 9:19 pm
Now if only I can get “The Flight of the Bumblebee” theme song out of my head!–Aargh!
LikeLike
January 14, 2011 at 10:37 pm
Yeah! Too high a trumpet blast can “Hirt” your eardrums.
LikeLike
January 15, 2011 at 2:09 am
You’re in rare form! 😉
LikeLike