The Adventures of Batman
The Adventures of Batman is an animated television series produced by Lou Scheimer's Filmation studios. It showcased the 12-minute Batman segments from The Batman/Superman Hour, sometimes broken up by and surrounding another cartoon from Filmation's fast-growing stream of superhero stars. A re-branded 30-minute version premiered on CBS on September 14, 1968, as Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder. This version was repackaged without the Superman and Superboy segments.[1]
The Adventures of Batman | |
---|---|
![]() Title card | |
Also known as | Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder |
Based on | |
Directed by | Hal Sutherland |
Voices of | |
Narrated by | Ted Knight |
Theme music composer |
|
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 17 |
Production | |
Executive producer | Allen Ducovny |
Producer | Norm Prescott Lou Scheimer |
Production companies |
|
Original release | |
Network | CBS |
Release | September 14, 1968 January 4, 1969 | –
Related | |
Olan Soule was the voice of Batman and is most likely best remembered for his work on that show, and many others in the Filmation stable. Casey Kasem, notable for his voiceover and radio work, was the voice of Robin.
Batman and Robin would next appear in two The New Scooby-Doo Movies crossovers, various versions of Super Friends (featuring Soule and Kasem reprising their Batman and Robin roles, respectively) and The New Adventures of Batman in 1977.[2]
Episodes
editThe Batman segment of The Batman/Superman Hour consisted of one story presented in two 6+1⁄2-minute segments and one story in a single 6+1⁄2-minute segment. 34 stories were produced (two-segment stories are listed first in each pairing):
No. in series |
Title | Written by | Original air date | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | "My Crime Is Your Crime" | Denis Marks | September 14, 1968 | ||||
"A Bird Out of Hand" | George Kashdan | ||||||
| |||||||
2 | "The Cool, Cruel Mr. Freeze" | Denis Marks | September 21, 1968 | ||||
"The Joke's on Robin" | George Kashdan | ||||||
| |||||||
3 | "How Many Herring in a Wheelbarrow?" | Bill Keenen | September 28, 1968 | ||||
"In Again, Out Again Penguin" | |||||||
| |||||||
4 | "The Nine Lives of Batman" | Denis Marks | October 5, 1968 | ||||
"Long John Joker" | Bob Haney | ||||||
The first segment of this episode features edited dialogue — in the show's syndicated run, as Catwoman and her henchmen pillage a jewelry exchange, it includes a line of narration, "The feline felon and her terrible tabbies indulge in an orgy of theft". This was changed in subsequent prints to "a spree of stealing". | |||||||
5 | "Bubi, Bubi, Who's Got the Ruby?" | Bill Keenen | October 12, 1968 | ||||
"1001 Faces of the Riddler" | George Kashdan | ||||||
| |||||||
6 | "The Big Birthday Caper" | Bob Haney | October 19, 1968 | ||||
"Two Penguins Too Many" | Bill Keenen | ||||||
| |||||||
7 | "Partners in Peril" | George Kashdan | October 26, 1968 | ||||
"The Underworld Underground Caper" | Bill Butler | ||||||
| |||||||
8 | "Hizzoner the Joker" | Denis Marks | November 2, 1968 | ||||
"Freeze's Frozen Vikings" | |||||||
| |||||||
9 | "The Crime Computer" | Denis Marks | November 9, 1968 | ||||
"The Great Scarecrow Scare" | Bill Butler | ||||||
| |||||||
10 | "A Game of Cat and Mouse" | Bill Keenen | November 16, 1968 | ||||
"Beware of Living Dolls" | Bob Haney | ||||||
| |||||||
11 | "Will the Real Robin Please Stand Up" | Oscar Bensol | November 23, 1968 | ||||
"He Who Swipes the Ice, Goes to the Cooler" | Bill Keenen | ||||||
| |||||||
12 | "Simon the Pieman" | Denis Marks | November 30, 1968 | ||||
"A Mad, Mad Tea Party" | George Kashdan | ||||||
| |||||||
13 | "From Catwoman with Love" | Bob Haney | December 7, 1968 | ||||
"Perilous Playthings" | Oscar Bensol | ||||||
| |||||||
14 | "A Perfidious Pieman Is Simon" | Oscar Bensol | December 14, 1968 | ||||
"Cool, Cruel Christmas Caper" | Bob Haney | ||||||
| |||||||
15 | "The Fiendishly Frigid Fraud" | Denis Marks | December 21, 1968 | ||||
"Enter the Judge" | |||||||
| |||||||
16 | "The Jigsaw Jeopardy" | Oscar Bensol | December 28, 1968 | ||||
"Wrath of the Riddler" | |||||||
| |||||||
17 | "It Takes Two to Make a Team" | Denis Marks | January 4, 1969 | ||||
"Opera Buffa" | Bob Haney | ||||||
|
The original villain Simon the Pieman makes a cameo appearance alongside Sweet Tooth in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "A Bat Divided".
Home media
editIn 1985, Warner Home Video released five selected episodes of the series on VHS in the "Super Powers" video collection along with Aquaman, Superboy and Superman.
In 1993, in Australia only, Warner Home Video released a four-volume VHS collection with four stories per volume.
In 2008, episodes were released as digital downloads on iTunes,[3] and streaming on Amazon Video.[4]
In June 2014, Warner Home Video (via DC Entertainment) released all 34 original, uncut broadcast episodes on DVD in Region 1 in a 2-disc set entitled The Adventures of Batman.[5] Note: The episode pairings and order differ from the above list.
On September 17, 2021, the show was available on HBO Max in Latin America, in celebration for Batman Day.[6]
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment released the series on Blu-ray on February 28, 2023.[7]
References
edit- ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 114–122. ISBN 978-1476665993.
- ^ "A History of Batman on TV". IGN. Retrieved 2010-08-15.
- ^ The Adventures of Batman on iTunes
- ^ The Adventures of Batman on Amazon Video
- ^ All 34 Cartoons from Filmation's 1968 Series are Coming to DVD Archived 2014-02-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Medeiros, Kainan (2021-09-18). "HBO Max adiciona animações e filmes do Batman". Team Comics (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2022-06-07.
- ^ Milligan, Mercedes (15 November 2022). "Filmation's 'The Adventures of Batman' Complete Series Remaster Coming to Blu-ray". Animation Magazine.