7.4 /10 1 Votes
7.5/10 TV Country of origin United States No. of episodes 16 | 7.2/10 IMDb Directed by Don Towsley Original language(s) English Final episode date 28 May 1977 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Voices of Adam WestBurt WardLennie WeinribMelendy Britt Cast | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
the new adventures of batman 70s animated tv series intro
The New Adventures of Batman is an animated cartoon that aired on CBS from February 12 to May 28, 1977, featuring the DC Comics superheroes Batman and Robin, and Batgirl. The series was a Filmation and DC Comics production in association with Warner Bros. Television (whose current parent company is Time Warner).
Contents
- the new adventures of batman 70s animated tv series intro
- Predecessors and competition
- Voice cast
- Missing villains
- DVD release
- Legacy
- References
The New Adventures of Batman originally premiered February 12, 1977 on CBS. The episodes from this series were later aired along with other Filmation shows—such as Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (1976, CBS) —as part of: The Batman/Tarzan Adventure Hour (1977–1978 CBS), Tarzan and the Super 7 (1978–1980 CBS), and Batman and the Super 7 (1980–1981 NBC).
In The New Adventures of Batman, the "Dynamic Duo" fights crime in Gotham City, encountering the classic Batman rogues gallery as well as some original villains. Complicating matters is Bat-Mite, a well-meaning imp from another dimension called Ergo, who considers himself Batman's biggest fan. As a result, he wears a variant of Batman’s costume and attempts to help him, only to often create more problems. Missing is Alfred, the faithful butler of Batman's alter ego Bruce Wayne; also notable in this series are the inverted colors of the circled "R" on Robin's costume.
Predecessors and competition
In September 1968, before The New Adventures of Batman Filmation Associates had created and aired an animated Batman series (pre-Bat-Mite), named The Batman/Superman Hour, for CBS. This series, the first Saturday Morning vehicle for the Caped Crusader, paired up new Batman and Robin adventures with old Superman/Superboy episodes. In 1969, it was repackaged into 30-minute episodes without the Man of Steel and renamed Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder.
The New Adventures of Batman was produced concurrently with Super Friends, which was produced by the competing Hanna-Barbera Productions and included Batman and Robin as members, marking a rare occurrence in animation history which saw two studios simultaneously producing series featuring the same characters. The main distinction was that in Filmation’s series, Batman and Robin were voiced by Adam West and Burt Ward, the lead actors of the 1960s Batman series. Hanna-Barbera's Batman and Robin were voiced by Olan Soule and Casey Kasem, who also voiced the Dynamic Duo for Filmation's 1968 version, The Batman/Superman Hour.
Voice cast
Missing villains
Riddler and the Scarecrow were off-limits to the show, as Hanna-Barbera already had the rights to the characters for Challenge of the Superfriends (though Riddler does appear in the opening credits of the show in a pink colored costume, and was mentioned being arrested at the beginning of the episode Deep Freeze). This is also the reason why Joker could not appear in Challenge of the Superfriends, though he was planned as a Legion of Doom member.
DVD release
The New Adventures of Batman was released on DVD format on June 26, 2007; all sixteen episodes are collected. A retrospective detailing the creation of the series titled "Dark Vs. Light: Filmation and The Batman" featuring Filmation historian Michael Swanigan and Filmation founder Lou Scheimer is included as well.
One episode (the first one, titled "The Pest") was released along with an episode of Tarzan in the Saturday Morning Cartoons: The 1970s Vol. 1 DVD also released by Warner Home Video.