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| January 25, 2020 |
I've always been something of a procrastinator but I've finally gotten
around to purchasing the DVD (yes, I've not yet taken the giant step
into the world of Blu Ray yet) but I've finally purchased a DVD copy of
The New Adventures of Batman, the 1977 series from Filmation, on CBS, featuring
Adam West and Burt Ward as the voices of Batman and Robin. This is a
repackaged release...it doesn't include the DVD extra of the history
behind this series. I'd seen it on YouTube, though, so it's not that big
of a deal it was left off this repackaged release.
I've read for many
years how this incarnation features a certain character named
Bat-Mite...and I've read commentary that the inclusion of that character
is the single biggest turn off for a lot of people...but I've always told myself that once I see the
episodes I'll form my own opinion as I
always do, rather than, allowing a collective public perception form it
for me. I never watched any of these episodes on-line because of my
choice of waiting until a DVD came along...but then my procrastination caused me to not purchase the DVD right away, as explained above, but now I have it in my personal collection of animation DVDs. The series mirrors the live-action 1960s Batman in varying ways...in several episodes you'll see Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson rush to the bat poles and emerge in the Batcave. Once in the Batcave, oddly enough, they emerge from an elevator containing the bat poles rather than landing feet first, already costumed, on soft cushions as the characters did in the live-action show. Also, in those certain episodes containing the bat poles, Bruce shouts "to the Batcave!!" instead of the catchphrase "to the bat poles!!" which was made popular on the live-action series.
As mentioned Adam West and Burt Ward star in this series as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Dick Grayson/Robin respectively. Alfred is not part of the cast. Commissioner Gordon is modeled after his appearance in the comic books while the remaining lead characters retain their 1968 appearances. Catwoman is given a new look, however. Lennie Weinrib and co-producer, Lou Scheimer, are the vocalists for all the other male characters while Melendy Britt voices the female characters.
The series originally aired February 12, 1977 - May 28, 1977 on Saturday mornings and was repeated for several years as part of Filmation's various animated programming blocks. It was the studio's second animated series starring Batman...the first came along in 1968. When the 1977 series debuted on CBS both Batman and Robin were also airing in animated form on another network, ABC, on the Hanna-Barbera Super Friends series. In that series Olan Soule voiced Batman while Casey Kasem voiced Robin, as they had done in Filmation's 1968 series. Those two vocal performers would remain the voices of the Dynamic Duo for Hanna-Barbera throughout the 1970s and into the early 1980s.
I've watched both discs of The New Adventures of Batman...each one contains 8 episodes...for a 16 episode total. I made notes on some episodes which I'll form into a review, of sorts, but it'll take repeated watches of the series to have me know the episodes backwards and forwards as I do some of my other Classic Cartoon DVDs.
One of the things I noticed is that there aren't any title cards. I'm not an expert on the history of this series to know if title cards were part of it's original run or not but there aren't any included in the episodes on this DVD release. The show's debut episode, The Pest, is a description of Bat-Mite...the alien that pops up at the most critical moments to lend a helping hand only for it to cause mayhem and misfortune for the Caped Crusaders. The magical imp is a klutz and it's shown early on that he has a massive crush on Batgirl. In the episode Joker leaves the Crusaders a riddle clue: "oil and water don't mix". The police station, specifically the Commissioner's office, looks nearly futuristic...in some scenes it looks as if it's the Batcave with all the gadgetry and monitors. The main plot of the episode is the Joker attempting to steal a car...that runs on water. The scientist that invented the car speaks at a demonstration gala but he's revealed to be the Joker in disguise. Batman and Robin's attempts to sneak up on Joker backfire thanks to Bat-Mite. In the chaos Bat-Mite needs rescued...and to give you an indication of the Crusader's feelings, Bat-Mite responds by saying: "Batman! You saved my life!!" and Batman deadpans: "we ALL have our weak moments.". The imp's catchphrase is "all I want to do is help". A slight touch of amnesia for the scientist prevents him from remembering how his invention can be destroyed but soon he recalls that salt will cause the car to slowly break apart.
In The Moon Man an astronaut named Scott Rogers is a house guest at Wayne Manor. A villain named Moon Man appears at a museum and steals a moon rock. Scott is shown the following day delivering a message at a podium when he suddenly gets blurred vision, dizziness, and he excuses himself from the speaking engagement. The Moon Man is next shown stealing what he calls moon metal from an amusement park ride. In the meantime Scott's vanished...but ultimately reappears and it's revealed that he's the Moon Man. However, Scott is only villainous due to a reaction stemming from exposure to radioactive chemicals during his various assignments in outer space and a full moon causes his transformation. As the Moon Man, however, his goal is to pull the moon from it's orbit.
In a complex episode, Trouble Identity, Batgirl takes center stage. In the beginning of the episode Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, and Barbara Gordon visit Professor Norquist and view his converter invention which turns everyday trash into treasure. Catwoman secretly observes the demonstration...and during a deliberately staged blackout she steals the invention in the disguise of Batgirl...and Barbara (alias Batgirl) is unable to say anything for fear of giving away her secret identity. In a scene at Commissioner Gordon's office a formal request for Batgirl's arrest is announced while Barbara sticks up for her...being careful not to reveal that she and Batgirl are one in the same. While Bruce and Dick are inside Gordon's office hearing the news about Batgirl he makes a call to Batman...unaware that the Dynamic Duo are in his office in their true identities. To the shock of Bruce and Dick the Commissioner begins a conversation with...Batman! It's actually Bat-Mite on the other end of the phone. After this awkward scene Barbara departs as do Bruce and Dick. Soon after Barbara shows up as Batgirl while Batman and Robin emerge. The Commissioner had previously ordered Batgirl's arrest. Batgirl finds herself in a perilous situation as she walks across her bat rope...only to have Bat-Mite show up. His appearance startles Batgirl and his appearance on the bat rope, which is functioning as a tight rope between two buildings in Gotham City, causes Batgirl to lose balance. The Crusaders, in their Bat-Copter, swoop down and rescue Batgirl and inform the Commissioner they'll be taking her to police headquarters. However, once inside the helicopter, Batman informs Batgirl that in the eyes of the law and in the eyes of the public she's guilty even though he and Robin know that Catwoman has to be the one behind the framing. They go on the hunt for Catwoman...meanwhile the Commissioner wonders where the Crusaders are. The invention isn't fast enough for Catwoman's liking and so she attempts to speed things up...which causes the invention to malfunction as expensive fabric floods her personal aircraft. This gives away her hiding place and she's apprehended. Immediately after Batgirl is cleared of all charges against her.
There's an episode on disc one titled A Sweet Joke on Gotham City which deals with a villain named Sweet Tooth. Lennie Weinrib voices this villain and gives him a Paul Lynde type of vocalization. Sweet Tooth has several underlings...all overweight...and always hungry for sweets. His plan is to turn Gotham City's water supply into chocolate syrup for a ransom of ten million dollars. This is one of several episodes that resemble a Scooby Doo caper by comparison to the other episodes in this 1977 series. In disc two it features a whole lot more episodes featuring Batman villains from the comic books. In He Who Laughs Last the Joker goes on a crime spree just for fun...leaving clues and deceptive hints along the way. The vocalization of Joker, by Lennie Weinrib, is disturbingly entertaining because it consists of a very high pitched cackling/giggling and when he speaks his voice ranges from uptempo to a lower Ted Knight-style delivery. The laugh is a bit overused in this particular episode but the more I'll watch that episode the more entertaining it'll become. Deep Freeze should be self-explanatory. The villain here is Mr. Freeze...with a Russian-inflected accent. In the opening scene we're told that Batman and Robin have captured all of Gotham City's super criminals but haven't captured Mr. Freeze yet. The news report describes the villain as second rate instead of being someone to fear. Bruce and Dick each have colds which impact their crime-fighting as Batman and Robin...sneezing at the most critical moments, etc. The goal of Mr. Freeze is to steal a submarine. In the episode he's aided by a henchman named Professor Frost...dressed in a heavy fur coat and hat...who's clearly not used to the subzero conditions upon which Mr. Freeze must exist. One of Freeze's character traits is his gloating and the taking of credit for things in which his henchman clearly dreamed up. Bat-Mite lends his usual help to the proceedings but this time his help actually helps...a clumsy Bat-Mite defrosts an ice cell that Batman had been placed in. The ever handy freeze ray gun turns against Mr. Freeze...it becomes a super hot defroster...much to the delight of Professor Frost, the real mastermind behind the scheme to steal the submarine.
In Dead Ringers a local crook named Matt Hagen spots a circus performer that, with the addition of a mask, would make him look identical to Robin. Hagen convinces the performer, a reformed juvenile crook named Kit Martin, into pulling a petty crime disguised as Robin. Inside Wayne Manor both Bruce and Dick are watching the newscast and see footage of Batman and Robin abducting an Arabian oil minister. The Batman imposter turns out to be Clayface...alias Matt Hagen...while Kit is posing as Robin. Upon the chaotic chain of events Bat-Mite emerges to help...and is promptly greeted by Batman: "Bat-Mite...will YOU take a powder?? We're busy!!". The Crusaders are arrested...but before they could be formally charged they persuade Commissioner Gordon to allow them 2 hours to prove their innocence. As bad luck would have it Batman gets amnesia which puts a wrinkle in their plan to clear their names in 2 hours. In the meantime Clayface had hidden inside the grill of the Batmobile and emerges inside the Batcave with the goal of learning the Duo's true identities. Robin and Batgirl pursue the elusive Kit Martin at the circus. The episode uses a bit of Batman history in this episode whether knowingly or unknowingly. There's several scenes inside the circus...showing Kit Martin and his family as popular acrobatic acts. In Batman history Dick Grayson had been part of a family circus act, The Flying Graysons. It was at a circus where sabotaged wiring caused the deaths of Dick Grayson's family...with Bruce Wayne in attendance...and it led to his eventual guardianship of Dick Grayson. When watching this episode and seeing the acrobats it immediately made me think of Robin's origin and how Dick Grayson came to be Bruce Wayne's ward. Catwoman and Clayface team up in Curses! Oiled Again in a plot inspired by the energy crisis and oil controversies taking place during the Carter Administration. A secondary plot has an obnoxious, cynical television reporter named Boyd Baxter grilling Batman on his abilities or lack thereof in capturing Catwoman and Clayface. Lennie Weinrib voices Baxter and gives him a broad vocal impression of Jimmy Cagney. The final three episodes center around Bat-Mite and his people...specifically a villain named Zarbor and their planet, Ergo. In the 2-part Have An Evil Day episode Zarbor enlists Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, and Clayface to keep the Crusaders and Bat-Mite busy while he shrinks America's nuclear power plants for transport back to Ergo. In This Looks Like a Job for Bat-Mite, Zarbor has escaped prison and he plans on taking over Earth and become it's ruler.
The closing sequence of every episode shows Batman performing acrobatic feats all over Gotham City as the credits roll before he lands in an awaiting Batmobile. I like this series...for all the negativity surrounding Bat-Mite I was expecting each episode to feature the same pattern of Bat-Mite goofing up everything and causing disasters but instead Bat-Mite becomes less of a nuisance/hindrance and more tolerable but still an Achilles heel to the Crusaders. The fact that he realizes his mistakes...only seconds after they've happened...complete with his "I was only trying to help" reaction in some ways causes him to be...somewhat likable instead of annoying.
Some of the vocalizations by Lou Scheimer and Melendy Britt anticipate future Filmation cartoons of the 1980s. Lou's vocals as the Bat-Computer are similar to Swift Wind and Grizzlor on She-Ra as well as Fisto on He-Man. Bat-Mite's vocals are similar to Orko from He-Man but without the enhanced sped-up computerized effect. Melendy Britt's vocals for Barbara Gordon/Batgirl are the vocals she gave to Adora on the She-Ra series in the mid 1980s. Her vocals for Catwoman later became the basis for her vocalization of Katra on She-Ra.
Disc One:
1. The Pest
2. The Moon Man
3. Trouble Identity
4. A Sweet Joke on Gotham City
5. The Bermuda Rectangle
6. Bite-Sized
7. Reading, Writing, and Wronging
8. The Chameleon
Disc Two:
1. He Who Laughs Last
2. Deep Freeze
3. Dead Ringers
4. Curses! Oiled Again
5. Birds of a Feather Fool Around Together
6. Have An Evil Day, Part 1
7. Have An Evil Day, Part 2
8. This Looks Like a Job for Bat-Mite
