Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Filmation's Super New Adventures of Batman!, May 2, 2007
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 - The Complete Series is a 2-disc 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!
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24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Holy Bat-Mite, Batman!, July 10, 2007
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."
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Not...peanut butter and sardine pie?!", August 25, 2007
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.
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