Customer Reviews

The New Adventures of Batman

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Featuring the voices of Batman's Adam West and Burt Ward as Batman/Bruce Wayne and Robin/Dick Grayson, The New Adventures of Batman (1977) was the 2nd Batman animated series produced by Filmation for CBS following their 1968 Batman animated series.

Though Filmation retained most of the '60s show's character designs and production art for the '70s series, The New Adventures of Batman's use of rotoscoping (tracing over live footage) coupled with West and Ward's vocal performances gave the '70s show its artistic edge. Like most Filmation shows, educational messages were addressed at the end of every episode via "Bat-message."

The New Adventures of Batman is a 2-disc Complete Series set featuring all 16 episodes; Full Frame (1.33:1) video; Dolby Surround Stereo audio; plus the following Special Feature:

"The Dark Knight Revisited": Featurette examines the legacy of Filmation and its depiction of the DC character through interviews; and explores the split between Filmation's lighter comedic version of the character and the darker brooding Detective Comics version of the time.

Episodes:
1. The Pest
2. The Moonman
3. Trouble Identity
4. A Sweet Joke On Gotham City
5. The Bermuda Rectangle
6. Curses! Oiled Again!
7. Bite-Sized
8. Reading, Writing & Wronging
9. The Chameleon
10. He Who Laughs Last
11. The Deep Freeze
12. Dead Ringers
13. Birds Of A Feather Fool Around Together
14. Have An Evil Day (Part 1)
15. Have An Evil Day (Part 2)
16. This Looks Like A Job For Bat-Mite!


Classic '70s Filmation series finally on DVD!

Bat-mite. The very mention of his name induces collective groans and sends a shudder down the spines of Batfans everywhere and with good reason. He is probably the most reviled sidekick to have come along until he was dethroned by Jar-Jar Binks. Filmation's 1977 animated Saturday morning The New Adventures of Batman will always be remembered, for better or worse (probably the latter) for featuring the short, mousy, impish Bat-wannabe with magical powers from the Mxyzptlk universe (voiced by producer Lou Scheimer) and the precursor of He-man's Orko. That was the only thing I had remembered from this 1977 CBS cartoon other than it featured the voices of Adam West and Burt Ward, the live-action Dynamic Duo from the campy 60's TV show. Not to be confused with the 1968 animated The Adventures of Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder which featured the voices of Casey Kasem and Olan Soule who were the regular voices for their characters on Challenge of the Superfriends, the competing series airing concurrently on the ABC network produced by Hanna-Barbera. Revisting this cartoon again on DVD it still retains most of that 60's camp no-thanks to the annoying Bat-Mite who was obviously thrown in to appeal to the kiddies but instead of being a continuation of the 60's TV show, The New Adventures of Batman takes the Dynamic Duo into the 70's giving it a more urbanized look and feel. The traditional Rogues Gallery of villains make their appearances including the Joker with his laughing hyena, Penquin, Mr. Freeze, Clayface, and Zardor, the Bat-Mite villain from his home planet Ergo. Melendy Britt who voiced Princess Aura on Filmation's Flash Gordon provides the voices for Batgirl and Catwoman. The Riddler and Scarecrow were verboten as they were in use by the competing Hanna-Barbera on Challenge of the Superfriends. Reciprocally, they could not use the Joker on Challenge of the Superfriends for the very same reason as Filmation had the rights to the character. The DVD packaging is almost as detested as Bite-Mite himself with bland artwork printed on a cheap cardboard slipcase holding 2 DVDs, one of which is a dual-sided DVD-9 which can be easily scratched. It seems these were given the rush treatment to get them out there without much consideration to marketing it to the fans. There's a good 18-minute documentary called The Dark Knight Revisited on the B-side of the disc that goes into the history of Batman in animated form with excellent interviews with writer Paul Dini (Batman: TAS), comic writer/editor Dennis O'Neil and Mark Hamill (the voice of the Joker on Batman: TAS) that make this set worth the purchase alone. It's a crime that Warner Bros. didn't give this DVD a more respectable treatment with better packaging, artwork, and commentaries, but it seems the controversial Bat-mite may have tarnished forever the credibility and reputation of this arguably classic Filmation series, branding it the bastard step-child of the animated Bat. As Batman himself would say, "Crime doesn't pay."

The nitty gritty: new generations of Batfans will think it's worth 3 stars, while old school fans who remember this one will be more charitable.

Baking a peanut butter and sardine pie is how Robin pays up his losing a match of Pong to Batman. That should give you a quick idea of the infantile tone of this show. Anyway, I used to wake up early on Saturdays when I was a kid just to see my morning cartoons. The Caped Crusader was a big part of that, along with Superman and other heroes like Tarzan and Zorro. But Batman stood out. In 1977, the Filmation studio brought THE NEW ADVENTURES OF BATMAN to the CBS network. This series constituted 16 episodes, which were later recycled in THE BATMAN/TARZAN ADVENTURE HOUR (1977), TARZAN AND THE SUPER 7 (1978), and BATMAN AND THE SUPER 7 (1980).

Whatever current series title he was under, Batman was a recurring staple of my childhood. So I can readily forgive his show its faults. The rotoscoped animation is simplistic and quaint by today's standards and is hampered by an over-reliance on stock footage. And the "R" on Robin's costume has a tendency to vanish. The cheesy stories, meanwhile, are fit for, well, for kids who get up early to watch Saturday morning cartoons. For me, today, the draw to this show, besides nostalgia, is the voice casting of Adam West and Burt Ward, who, long after the cancellation of their live action BATMAN series, were persuaded to lend their voices to this show. Though more low key here and having noticeably cut down on the pregnant pauses, West still brings ample heapings of his dramatic line reading. Meanwhile, Burt Ward's trademark exuberance comes across fully intact. And, honestly, as young as I was, I do believe I was crushing on the sexy, red-headed Assistant D.A. Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl. She's in a lot of the episodes.

There is one major drawback. The show features a well-meaning, one-toothed, sickly-green-faced imp from another dimension who, being an ardent admirer of Batman, styles himself Bat-Mite. He proves to be more of a hindrance than an asset to the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder. He aggravates the living crap out of me, and certainly he serves to consistently exasperate the Dynamic Duo. Or, to put it another way, when Bat-Mite interferes with Bruce and Dick's basketball game, a hostile Bruce asks the imp, "Bat-Mite, have you ever been slam dunked?" But I have a sinking feeling that the tots will tend to like him more than not.

The old rogues are well represented: The Penguin and his crazy Penguinmobile; Catwoman, costumed here in orange tights and piloting her ridiculous Catplane; Mr. Freeze; Clayface; and the Joker, with his odious pet hyena Giggles. Unfamiliar and low rent do-badders, possibly created for the series, also drop in on Gotham, the most pathetic of the lot being an out of shape loser code-named Sweet Tooth. Easy to see why these nimrods were never glimpsed again.

This wouldn't be the modern audience's cup of tea. It's not as grim, as complex, or as effective as BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, not by a long shot. Back in the '70s, Batman in the comic books was taken back to his roots and had become again a dark creature of the night. But, realizing that its target audience were impressionable kids, the creators of this animated series opted for a much lighter mood and deliberately avoided scenes of violence. Absent are moments of Bats and Robin physically engaging the baddies in fisticuffs, so what we're left with are pretty tame action sequences. Funny that I never noticed that when I was a kid. We instead get scenes where the good guys catch the bad guys via nets, magnets, by trapping them in ice cream, and by overriding the villains' vehicular controls and conveying them directly to prison. And, adhering to the kid friendly policy, the show throws in the moralistic Bat-messages to end the episodes.

My favorite episodes may well be "Birds of a Feather Fool Around Together," where Bats and Robin are exposed to Penguin's crime slime, making them evil, and "This Looks Like a Job for Bat-Mite!" where Bats and Robin are brainwashed, which also makes them evil. In their villainous turns, Adam West and Burt Ward have never been more fun to listen to. They again get brainwashed in "Bite-Sized" but it isn't as fun. A neat one is the two-part "Have an Evil Day," which pits a space alien and four of Bats' rogue gallery against Batman and Robin. We also witness what I believe to be Robin's lengthiest exclamation: "Holy Float Like a Butterfly and Sting Like a Bee!" (in "He Who Laughs Last").

If you're in the mood for some old school animation and don't mind groaning at all the corn, then tune in to all 16 episodes of THE NEW ADVENTURES OF BATMAN. At around 23 minutes per episode, marvel at the Bat Family (and Bat-Mite) as they combat Gotham's evil with their arsenal of kooky Bat-gadgets and the sonorous Bat-Computer. To quote Batman in the intro: "Watch us wage our neverending battle of good versus evil." Sounds like a good invite to me.

Here go the 16 episodes:

Episode 1 - "The Pest" - The Joker steals an experimental automobile which runs purely on water. Batman and Robin race to retrieve the car, which hasn't yet been perfected and could explode with the force of a nuclear bomb.

Episode 2 - "The Moonman" - A golden glowing figure with magnetic powers has broken into a museum and absconded with a moon rock. Batgirl appears for the first time. By the way, is it me or does Bruce's astronaut houseguest Scott resemble O.J. Simpson?

Episode 3 - "Trouble Identity" - Catwoman, that felonious feline, frames Batgirl, who is now suspected by the police of stealing a matter-converting invention which could revolutionize the garment industry.

Episode 4 - "A Sweet Joke on Gotham City" - The confectionary crook Sweet Tooth (who sounds a bit like Paul Lynde) blackmails the city by turning Gotham's water supply into chocolate syrup.

Episode 5 - "The Bermuda Rectangle" - Batman, Batgirl, and Robin thwart the nefarious underwater schemes of Professor Bubbles.

Episode 6 - "Bite-Sized" - Otherplanetary villain Electro miniaturizes Batman and Robin with a shrink ray ("Within the hour, I'll have them in the palm of my hand."). Then he mind controls them into pilfering secret military plans.

Episode 7 - "Reading, Writing and Wronging" - The Penguin's School of Crime aims to subvert teens into a life of crime. The kids' final exam? Why, the capture of Batman and Robin.

Episode 8 - "The Chameleon" - A new shapeshifting supervillain calling himself the Chameleon hits town and means to take down Gotham's superheroes.

Episode 9 - "He Who Laughs Last" - The Joker breaks out of the clink and seeks vengeance on Batman and Robin. Meanwhile, Batman invents helium paint.

Episode 10 - "The Deep Freeze" - Mr. Freeze and his henchman Frost set out after the most powerful submarine in the world.

Episode 11 - "Dead Ringers" - Impostors posing as the Dynamic Duo kidnap the Arabian Oil Minister. Meanwhile, Batman suffers from a bout of amnesia.

Episode 12 - "Curses! Oiled Again!" - Catwoman and Clayface team up to commit oil hijackings. Not to mention, an irritating newscaster, who seems to be channeling James Cagney, is criticizing the Caped Crusader.

Episode 13 - "Birds of a Feather Fool Around Together" - Vying for the presidency of Y.U.C. (the Yearly Underworld Convention), Penguin vows to cement his candidacy by turning Batman and Robin to a life of crime.

Episode 14 - "Have an Evil Day (Part 1)" - Dastardly space alien Zarbor, who hails from Bat-Mite's home dimension of Ergo, enlists Joker, Catwoman, Penguin, and Clayface to detain Batman & Robin so that he can freely pursue his own ends.

Episode 15 - "Have an Evil Day (Part 2)" - Batman and Robin chase all the bad guys to Zarbor's home dimension.

Episode 16 - "This Looks Like a Job for Bat-Mite!" - Zarbor escapes and returns to Earth to induce more headaches for the Caped Crusader. This time, the plot involves the levitation of Gotham buildings and the brainwashing of our heroes.

Here's a quibble, the dvd packaging is pretty flimsy. Disc 1, which fastens half-overlappingly on Disc 2, has a tendency to pop out whenever I open the cardboard casing. Disc 1 itself contains the first 8 episodes. Disc 2 is double-sided, with Side A featuring the last 8 episodes and Side B offering the 18-minute-long retrospective segment "The Dark Knight Revisited," which has interviews with actor Mark Hamill and comic book writer Denny O'Neil. Rumor had it that audio commentaries were supposedly available for 2 episodes on this dvd set, but it just ain't so. Or, at least, I couldn't find them.

This sounds like a great "must purchase" DVD set, giving us the full set of 1977 New Adventures of Batman cartoons made by Filmation Studios. Adam West and Burt Ward reprise their voicing of the characters, and are joined by Batgirl (voiced by Melendy Britt), and an impish character created in the 1950s comics: Bat-Mite. The art is excellent, and expect to see plenty of favourite Batman villains like Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, Clayface, as well as the new villain Zarbor, from Bat-Mite's home dimension.

THEY ALSO MADE A PREVIOUS SERIES AS PART OF THE BATMAN SUPERMAN HOUR (Filmation 1968). I really hope they put that show out in full on DVD too, as I've longed to see it again since I was a kid. It would be the perfect follow-up release to this one.

Oh the joys of childhood! Waking up at 5:30 on Saturday morning,quitely walking passed my parents closed bedroom door,into the kitchen and getting "THE BIG BOWL" pouring fruity pebbles and TWO SCOOPS OF SUGER(I know, I bounced of the walls in those days) into the bowl with milk walking into the family room and parking in front of the 25inch T.V.(yes that was the big screen of it's day) and spending hours watching cartoon after cartoon. This Batman was a particular favorite of mine and it still looks great. I look foward to shareing this with my boys. I like the stories and the art work was good, but have to take one star away for the obnoxious Batmite(he and scrappy-doo were what killed saturday morning cartoons in my eyes) as he just never really fit in. this is one to have

It seems very little research was done before releasing this set. When the New Adventures of Superman was scheduled for release someone must have said "Hey let's release the Batman cartoon at the same time" but they grabbed the wrong Batman because it had the similar title of The New Adventures of Batman. What they should have put out was (BATMAN with ROBIN The Boy Wonder). That was the title of the 1967 Filmation cartoon that should have been the companion to the 1966 Superman cartoons. I loved Adam West in the live action TV series (WHICH IF WARNER BROS AND DC COMICS HAD ANY BRAINS, WOULD ALLOW IT TO BE RELEASED ON DVD), but in this 1977 version his voice sounds kind of weak with an "I'm only doing it for the money" essence. Burt Ward seems to put more of himself into it and comes across more convincing. So now we need the 1967 Batman cartoons and the 1981 RUBY SPEARS SUPERMAN (which can be consider to be a distant companion for this set). CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHICH TWO EPISODES HAVE THE COMMENTARIES? I CAN'T FIND THEM.

I can't believe it's taken so long for these classic Filmation cartoons to be released. The He-Man Filmation series has been released over these past few years & the Star Trek Filmation series finally got released on DVD last year. Why has it taken so long for the New Adventures of Batman to see the light of day? Who knows, but let's be grateful especially since the 60's live action series has not yet been released.

As other reviewers have noted, if you are not familiar with Bat-mite. He is to Batman as the Great Gazoo was to the Flintstones, Orko was to He-Man, & Jar Jar Binks was to Star Wars. So the intention of this character is to add a comic relief & thus appeal to young children. If you are OK with that, you will enjoy the New Adventures of Batman. The only slight disappointment is that unfortunately the Riddler does NOT make an appearance; no episodes were made with him as the villain.

Hopefully, this release will get the ball rolling with some of the other classic Filmation animated series. What about Tarzan? After all, for a period of time, CBS presented them both as a double bill: "the Batman/Tarzan Adventure Hour". Hopefully, Tarzan will be released next along with other Filmation series the Lone Ranger & Zorro not too far behind.

My autistic son is a huge Batman fan. He was able to identify most of the actors voices. It was a good story line and the animation was spectacular.

This cartoon is what got me into Batman in the first place. I loved watching these cartoons with Adam West and Burt Ward from the TV series back when I was 5 or 6 in 1977/1978 along with the other Batman cartoon with Olan Soule and Casey Kasem doing the voices. I thought Batmite was cute but he's kind of a JarJar Binks type character who is clumsy a lot of the time. This cartoon isn't as dark as the recent Batman animated series and I think that's a good thing because little kids can't handle dark and intense stuff. The stories may appear campy and zany to a lot of people but I think these cartoons are for all ages and I think this is something the whole family can enjoy as they are simple fun adventure stories and that's the way I always saw them even when I was little. I'm more into the dark Batman nowadays ie.comics,animated series.movies etc but I have always loved The New Adventures of Batman with Batman,Robin and Batmite battling the Joker,Penguin and Mr.Freeze. I always thought Batman was more fun with Robin because I have always liked their colorful costumes and their fantastic vehicles i.e.Batmobile,Batplane,Batcopter and the Batboat. I hope WB releases the original 1969 Batman cartoon with Olan Soule and Casey Kasem as the voices of Batman and Robin sometime in the near future hopelly this year.

My personal favorite episode was He Who Laughs Last where the Joker steals a steam train with Robin getting out of a boxcar with a laser torch from his utility belt.

In my opinion everything about this DVD release from Warner Studios is a complete disappointment to fans of this wonderful 1970's Filmation show. The packaging is the absolute cheapest I've ever purchased and the quality of the discs is positively terrible. For the price of this set, you'll receive a very cheap cardboard package that includes one single sided disc and one double sided disc. The discs also sit on top of one another making them extremely hard to remove and increasing the chance of scratching them, if they're not already.

I pre-ordered this set from Amazon and when I received it I was upset to find that the discs were already full of fingerprints, smudges and scratches. I contacted Amazon customer service immediately and they issued a replacement set without hesitation. When the second set arrived it was riddled with deep scratches, more fingerprints and some kind of residue on the discs. I contacted Amazon once again and they told me to send the set back so they could contact Warner Studios about the problem. I also sent an email to Warner Studios and I still haven't received a reply regarding the poor quality from them. Finally I contacted a reputable DVD review site and explained the problem to them. I was later informed that Warner Studios doesn't do their own actual DVD replicating, they just put their name on the final packaging. Congratulations Warner Studios, once again you have disappointed me with an inferior product bearing your name.

When it comes to customer service Warner, you could learn a thing or two from Amazon. Fortunately I was able to clean the fingerprints and smudges, but the scratches still remain. Even with the obnoxious Bat Mite character I still give this show four stars for entertainment, but the packaging and scratched discs deserve two stars. I hope this information is helpful to fans of this show and they don't encounter the same problem as I did.

DVD Episodes:
1. The Pest [22:49]
2. The Moonman [22:42]
3. Trouble Identity [22:46]
4. A Sweet Joke on Gotham City [22:42]
5. The Bermuda Rectangle [22:46]
6. Bite-Sized [22:46]
7. Reading, Writing & Wronging [22:46]
8. The Chameleon [22:46]
9. He Who Laughs Last [22:52]
10. The Deep Freeze [22:44]
11. Dead Ringers [22:46]
12. Curses! Oiled Again! [22:42]
13. Birds of a Feather Fool Around Together [22:14
14. Have an Evil Day - Part 1 [22:14]
15. Have an Evil Day - Part 2 [22:45]
16. This Looks Like a Job For Bat-Mite! [22:46]

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary: "Bat-Commentary" - An audio commentary from Filmation historian Michael Swanigan and Filmation founder Lou Schiemer on two of the episodes from the series.

Documentary Featurette: "Dark Knight Revisited" (1977 marked Batman's return to television in Filmations "New Adventures of Batman" Interviews from the President of DC Comics and the President of Warner Bros try to shed some insight into the legacy of the Batman character.

Thanks to Lou Schiemer and his Filmation Studios for all the wonderful characters and memories he gave us.