The New Adventures of Batman

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The New Adventures of Batman
Format Animated, Comedy
Created by Bob Kane (characters)
Directed by Don Towsley
Presented by Filmation
DC Comics
Voices of Adam West
Burt Ward
Lennie Weinrib
Melendy Britt
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
Language(s) English
No. of episodes 16
Production
Executive
producer(s)		 Norm Prescott
Lou Scheimer
Producer(s) Don Christensen
Running time 30 minutes (with commercials)
Distributor Columbia Pictures Television
Columbia TriStar Television
Sony Pictures Television
Broadcast
Original channel CBS, NBC
Original run 1977 – 1981
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The New Adventures of Batman is an animated series produced by Filmation in 1977 featuring the DC Comics superheroes Batman and Robin, and Batgirl.

It originally premiered February 10, 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 (although he is occasionally an asset). Missing is Alfred, the faithful butler of Batman's alter ego Bruce Wayne; also notable in this series are the inverted colors of the "R" on Robin's costume.

Contents

[edit] Predecessors and competition

Bat-Mite, Batman, and Robin from The New Adventures of Batman.
Bat-Mite, Batman, and Robin from The New Adventures of Batman.

In September 1968, before The New Adventures of Batman and half a year after the Batman live action TV series' demise, 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 The Adventures of Batman and 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 (unlike the live action series, West and Ward played their respective roles with a greatly reduced degree of campiness). Hanna-Barbera's Batman and Robin were voiced by Olan Soule and Casey Kasem, who, ironically, voiced the Dynamic Duo for Filmation's 1968 version, The Batman/Superman Hour.

[edit] Voice cast

[edit] Episodes and villains

1. The Pest - The Joker

  • The Joker steals an experimental hydrogen-powered car, disguising himself as the inventor, but without his knowledge of the car's weakness.

2. The Moonman - Moonman

  • Bruce Wayne's college friend Scott Rogers, later the first astronaut to fly a solo Moon mission, comes back with a secret.

3. Trouble Identity - Catwoman

  • Batgirl makes a surprise appearance at the debut of a new machine, that changes trash into fine fabrics, to claim it for herself. Or does she?

4. A Sweet Joke On Gotham City - Sweet Tooth

  • 4 out of 5 dentists would reject Sweet Tooth's plan, to ruin children's health by turning Gotham City's water supply into chocolate syrup.

5. The Bermuda Rectangle - Professor Bubbles

  • An underwater villain keeps a trained shark to carry out his weapons schemes.

6. Bite-Sized - Electro

  • Electro stalks Batman and Robin, intending to shrink them to help him steal government secrets.

7. Reading, Writing & Wronging - Penguin

  • The Penguin opens a crime school, where young crooks finish with dishonors.

8. The Chameleon - Chameleon

  • Not Clayface, but with similar abilities – and a plan to shut down Gotham City's new solar/lunar collector.

9. He Who Laughs Last - The Joker

  • Joker escapes from prison, planning to get revenge on Batman by giving him a series of clues linked to his crimes.

10. The Deep Freeze - Mr. Freeze

  • Mr. Freeze's henchman builds a freezing ray, and Mr. Freeze uses it to wreak havoc.

11. Dead Ringers - Clayface

  • Clayface poses as Batman to abduct an Arab oil minister, then infiltrates the Batcave.

12. Curses! Oiled Again! - Clayface / Catwoman

  • Catwoman and Clayface join forces to steal oil, and a news reporter seeks to show up Batman.

13. Birds Of A Feather Fool Around Together - Penguin / The Joker

  • In order to win an election, Penguin invents the 'Crime Slime', which can turn people into criminals. It makes him and Bat-Mite switch bodies, and seems to affect Batman and Robin too.

14. Have An Evil Day (Part 1) - Zarbor / The Joker / Penguin / Clayface / Catwoman

  • Zarbor, a criminal from Bat-Mite's homeworld, comes to Earth, enlisting Batman's enemies to keep the Caped Crusaders busy, while he steals America's nuclear power plants.

15. Have An Evil Day (Part 2) - Zarbor / The Joker / Penguin / Clayface / Catwoman

  • Batman and Robin, the villains, and Bat-Mite follow Zarbor back to Ergo, hoping to foil his takeover plans, and recover the stolen nuclear plants.

16. This Looks Like A Job For Bat-Mite! - Zarbor

  • Zarbor breaks jail in Ergo and returns to Earth, planning to become its ruler – with help from the Dynamic Duo.

[edit] Missing Batvillains

The 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 The Riddler does appear in the opening credits of the show in a red colored costume, and was mentioned being arrested at the beginning of the episode Deep Freeze). This is also the reason why the Joker could not appear in Challenge of the Superfriends, though he was planned as a Legion of Doom member.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Production credits

  • Executive Producers: Lou Scheimer, Norm Prescott
  • Produced by Don Christensen
  • Supervising Director: Don Towsley
  • Animation Directors: Rudy Larriva, Lou Zukor, Gwen Wetzler
  • Art Directors: Herb Hazelton, Alberto DeMello
  • Key Assistant: Mike Hazy
  • Layout: Jim Fletcher, Lonnie Lloyd, George Goode, Carol Lundberg, Wes Herschensohn, Cliff Voorhees, Les Maluza, David West, Jim Willoughby
  • Storyboard Director: Bob Kline
  • Storyboard: John Dorman, Paul Fennell, Mario Piluso, Paul Sommer, Sherman Labby
  • Director Of Color: Ervin Kaplan
  • Background Artists: Tom O'Loughlin, Rolly Oliva, Curtiss Perkins, Barbara Benedetto, Don Watson, Don Peters, Don Schweikert, Sheila Brown, Pat Keppler
  • Animators: Jim Brummett, Robert Carr, Jesse Cosio, Zion Davush, Otto Feuer, Ed Friedman, John Garling, Fred Grable, Dick Hall, Lou Kachivas, Marshll Lamore, Fred Myers, Bill Nunes, Casey Onaitis, Jack Ozark, Bill Pratt, Virgil Raddatz, Len Rogers, Virgil Ross, Don Schloat, Larry Silverman, Dardo Velez, Ron Westlund
  • Assistant Animation Supervision: Lew Irwin
  • Checking Supervision: Marion Turk
  • Xerography Supervision: John Remmel
  • Paint Supervision: Betty Brooks
  • Camera Supervision: R.W. Pope
  • Camera: Frederick T. Zeigler, Dan Teves, Don Dinehart
  • Music And Sound Effects: Horta-Mahana Corp.
  • Color By: Technicolor
  • Postproduction And Editorial Supervision: Joseph Simon
  • Film Editing: Doreen Dixon, Jim Blodgett
  • Film Coordinator: June Gilham
  • Background Music By: Yvette Blais, Jeff Michael
  • Music Publisher: Shermley Music Corp, A.S.C.A.P.
  • Voices: Adam West, Burt Ward, Lennie Weinrib, Melendy Britt
  • Based upon the characters created by Bob Kane and appearing in Detective, Batman and other D.C. comic magazines published by DC Comics, Inc.

[edit] External links

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