You Can Watch ‘The Green Hornet’ Series In Its Entirety On YouTube, Right Now
This past Christmas I received the Batman: The Complete Series set on Blu-ray, just like I wanted! While I happily binge on holiday leftovers and ’60s campy pop art, I approach the fabled crossover of Batman and the Green Hornet in season two. As Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who previously worked on The Green Hornet film several years ago, took over the headlines this Christmas due to The Interview, I was curious to know if The Green Hornet series was available on DVD. It would be nice to stack The Green Hornet series next to Batman on my shelf. Sadly, it isn’t.
But much to my delight, you can watch it on YouTube, courtesy of a user named BeentBestway.
Normally, whenever I see bloggers post about a show being uploaded for free in its entirety, I get pissed. This kind of stuff needs to remain a secret, like a cool underground club. We all want in, but you can’t talk about it and blow cover. Word of mouth reaches the rights holders and the party gets busted. But in the case of The Green Hornet, I don’t think we have anything to fear.
The closest thing to The Green Hornet on DVD, besides the 2011 Michel Gondry film, are bootlegs on Amazon and eBay. None of them are officially licensed, and their quality may be mediocre at best. Purchasing them doesn’t help put money in the pockets of William Dozier’s family, or ABC. So what’s the harm in YouTube where it can possibly live a better retirement in the cultural consciousness?
Not to mention BeentBestway uploaded some great quality episodes. He (or she?) uploaded these as far back as last summer, and I’m honestly kind of angry I didn’t find them sooner. While these episodes aren’t quite DVD quality (and no duh, they are dwarfed by the Batman Blu-ray), they have relatively great picture and sound. I’ve already watched a few episodes through a YouTube app on my 50-inch screen and it looked just fine. If anything, the roughness around the edges brings my millennial self a little closer to experiencing the pop spirit of the baby boomers.
The Green Hornet aired on the ABC Network from 1966 to 1967 and was the product of William Dozier and Greenway Productions, the powerhouses behind the iconic Batman series. As Batman became a hit, the network pursued another comic book television series and set their sights on the Green Hornet, who had been a staple in radio and movie serials. The show starred Van Williams and Bruce Lee, who you might have heard of. The Green Hornet was Lee’s introduction to American audiences, and Lee would of course become a film legend in his own right.
I suspect Bruce Lee’s status as an icon is why anyone remembers The Green Hornet in the first place. Although a popular character in early 20th century media, the Hornet and his stories barely survived over the decades and his place was etched in niche pop culture nostalgia. People at comic book conventions would remember The Green Hornet, but your classmates in high school and college wouldn’t. And I don’t blame them. It’s a little unfair to compare Green Hornet to Batman, but Batman has his stories and his ever-evolving mythology. You remember Batman’s moments and you remember Batman’s journeys. You remember Michael Keaton, Kevin Conroy, and Adam West. You remember Cesar Romero and Heath Ledger. You remember “The Dark Knight Returns” and “The Man Who Laughs” and the Arkham video game series. Beyond the premise and Bruce Lee’s casting, no one, not even I could tell you anything truly memorable about the Green Hornet. Except his crossover with, you guessed it, Batman.
At the same time, it’s perhaps because Batman has been afforded the opportunities that the Hornet never had. And that bums me out. While nothing of the established The Green Hornet myth sticks, that doesn’t mean it has to be that way forever. The 2011 movie adaptation starring Seth Rogen and Jay Chou was great, but it bombed critically and commercially and did nothing to solidify the masked vigilantes as comic book icons. Furthermore, Seth Rogen had a sour experience during production and has no interest in pursuing a sequel, so for the time being The Green Hornet is a dead franchise.
After watching a few episodes of the classic series on YouTube, I can’t help but imagine what influence the Green Hornet and Kato could have on an audience who’s ready for their true return. Britt Reid is a more boring Bruce Wayne (and considering how boring Bruce Wayne himself is, that’s incredible), which is why I didn’t mind that he was played as a goof by Seth Rogen. Somewhere in that extreme lies a Britt Reid as a dashing fool, like a Jeff Winger; cool and slick, but also arrogant and a bit of an idiot.
Kato, meanwhile, is a damn-near career defining role. Bruce Lee had to fight prejudice in the 1960’s, so understandably he was dissatisfied playing a white dude’s chauffeur. It especially hurt that the producers were adamant that Van Williams was the star, even though Williams himself wanted more screen time for Bruce because he knew Bruce’s kung-fu were why anybody watched. They were leagues ahead of the “stunts” in Batman for sure.
Just look at how much Lee outshines everybody, even Batman.
We absolutely do not live in a post-racial society, but there has been enough change in social politics where the dude in all black driving the car is a far more interesting character and the guy people want to watch than the jerk wearing the necktie riding in the backseat. This is what the filmmakers of the 2011 film recognized, and for that the movie does get extra props from me. In a perfect world, Kato is the kind of role that elevates Asian-American actors and brings color to the pool of Hollywood leading men.
As I watch The Green Hornet, I can’t help but wonder what a true re-imagining of the series for modern audiences could be like. Not as a film, but perhaps as a television series. Superhero TV is in vogue again, and if they could match the tone of The Flash I think The Green Hornet could truly become something special in the 21st century. There are elements to like from The Green Hornet movie. I like Seth Rogen and his humor, but perhaps not all of it belongs in this hypothetical The Green Hornet series. The relationship and bromance between Rogen and Chou, however, is an absolute must. To recognize that while the name on the marquee says “The Green Hornet,” both men are an inseparable team, a true dynamic duo in ways that Batman and Robin never could be. While Batman and Robin have a surrogate father/son relationship, Green Hornet and Kato are two bros kicking ass. We had a little bit of that with the Arrow and The Flash crossover this past year. Now imagine that every week.
The Green Hornet television series was played straight and serious, at least compared to Batman. Now that Batman is known as the moody, grumpy guy who punches a lot, Green Hornet could be his smirking opposite. While Gotham is exhaustingly serious no matter how absurd it can be (a balloon criminal?), a Green Hornet series could be livelier, upbeat, and far more fun to watch. The Green Hornet remains pretty big in the nostalgia market, but as time moves on the people who remember it will dwindle in number (I have the same fear for Babylon 5 as well). But right now, there is room, and I hope someone who cares just as much as I do but with the resources to back it up can get things going.
Meanwhile, I’ll just be watching on YouTube and reading the comic books.
