The Adventures of Batman
| The Adventures of Batman | |
|---|---|
 Title card from The Batman/Superman Hour | |
| Also known as | 'Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder' |
| Based on | Batman by Bob Kane |
| Directed by | Hal Sutherland |
| Voices of | Olan Soule, Casey Kasem, Ted Knight, Jane Webb |
| Narrated by | Ted Knight |
| Theme music composer |
John Marion Gart (credited as "John Marion") |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 34 shorts |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Allen Ducovny |
| Producer(s) |
Norm Prescott Lou Scheimer |
| Production company(s) |
Filmation Ducovny Productions National Periodical Publications |
| Distributor | Warner Bros. Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Original release | September 13, 1969 – January 3, 1970 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | The New Adventures of Batman |
| Related shows | The Batman/Superman Hour,The New Scooby-Doo Movies |
The Adventures of Batman is an animated television series produced by Lou Schiemer's Filmation studios. It showcased the 12-minute Batman segments from The Batman/Superman Hour, sometimes broken up by and surrounding another cartoon from Filmation's fast-growing stream of superhero stars. A re-branded 30-minute version premiered on CBS on September 13, 1969 as Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder. This version was repackaged without the Superman and Superboy segments.
Olan Soule was the voice of Batman and is most likely best remembered for his work on that show, and many others in the Filmation stable. Casey Kasem, notable for his voice over and radio work, was the voice of Robin the Boy Wonder.
Batman and Robin would next appear in a The New Scooby-Doo Movies crossover, various versions of Super Friends (featuring Soule and Kasem reprising their Batman and Robin roles, respectively) and The New Adventures of Batman in 1977.[1]
Episodes
The Batman half of The Batman/Superman Hour consisted of one story presented in two 6 1/2 minute segments and one story in a single 6 1/2 minute segment. 34 stories were produced:
| Two segment stories | ||
|---|---|---|
| No. in series |
Title | Original air date |
| 1 | "My Crime Is Your Crime" | September 13, 1969 |
| Batman and Robin are thrown for a loop when they arrest Joker and Penguin for crimes they didn't commit. | ||
| 2 | "The Cool, Cruel Mr. Freeze" | September 20, 1969 |
| Mr. Freeze causes havoc in his quest to ransom $1 billion from the city and he uses a captured whale for his caper. | ||
| 3 | "How Many Herring in a Wheelbarrow?" | September 28, 1969 |
| Joker raids technology firms to build a powerful solar mirror he can use as a laser weapon. | ||
| 4 | "The Nine Lives of Batman" | October 4, 1969 |
|
Catwoman traps Batman and exposes him to a radioactive gas that will allow her to identify him in his secret identity. This episode features edited dialogue - in the show's syndicated run, as Catwoman and her henchmen pillage a jewelry exchange, it includes a line of narration, "The feline felon and her terrible tabbies indulge in an orgy of stealing." This was changed in subsequent prints to "a spree of stealing." | ||
| 5 | "Bubi, Bubi, Who's Got the Ruby?" | October 11, 1969 |
| Bruce Wayne is captured by Penguin in the robbery of a valuable ruby. Unfortunately for Penguin, Catwoman is also after the ruby. | ||
| 6 | "The Big Birthday Caper" | October 18, 1969 |
| Riddler and Penguin try to expose Batman by staging a mammoth birthday party for him and wealthy businessman Bruce Wayne. | ||
| 7 | "Partners in Peril" | October 25, 1969 |
| A deadly contest is staged by Joker, Penguin, and Riddler to one up each other and gain control of Gotham City's criminal empire. Soon Catwoman gets involved. | ||
| 8 | "Hizzoner the Joker" | November 1, 1969 |
| Joker runs for Gotham mayor and is able to win. | ||
| 9 | "The Crime Computer" | November 8, 1969 |
| Penguin seizes a mammoth computer to use to outwit Batman and Robin. | ||
| 10 | "A Game of Cat and Mouse" | November 16, 1969 |
| Catwoman steals the Crown Jewels, which Joker is also after. | ||
| 11 | "Will the Real Robin Please Stand Up?" | November 22, 1969 |
| A youth who bears a stunning resemblance to Robin is used by Catwoman when he ends up with amnesia. | ||
| 12 | "Simon the Pieman" | November 29, 1969 |
| A flamboyant criminal pastry chef named Simon the Pieman and his gang steal valuables under the cover of the fairgrounds after they had disposed of Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman, and Mr. Freeze. | ||
| 13 | "From Catwoman with Love" | December 6, 1969 |
| Catwoman sends Batman a cat for Valentine's Day, a cat whose fur gives off radio waves. | ||
| 14 | "A Perfidious Pieman Is Simon" | December 13, 1969 |
| Simon the Pieman steals four million Turkish coins and is pursued to an electrical plant. | ||
| 15 | "The Fiendishly Frigid Fraud" | December 20, 1969 |
| A freak bombardment of meteors made of pure ice allows Mr. Freeze to stage a mammoth hoax. | ||
| 16 | "The Jigsaw Jeopardy" | December 27, 1969 |
| Riddler plans to blow up Gotham's art gallery and winds up trapping The Caped Crusaders as well. | ||
| 17 | "It Takes Two to Make a Team" | January 3, 1970 |
| Joker, Penguin, and Riddler are after an Incan Treasure Map. They plan to break up the Dynamic Duo by making Robin jealous of Batgirl. | ||
| One segment stories | ||
| No. in series |
Title | Original air date |
| 18 | "A Bird Out of Hand" | September 13, 1969 |
| Penguin unexpectedly goes straight. | ||
| 19 | "The Joke's on Robin" | September 20, 1969 |
| Robin seems to lose his skills after he rescues a man from drowning thanks to the Joker. | ||
| 20 | "In Again, Out Again Penguin" | September 27, 1969 |
| Penguin commits crimes and frames them on Batman even though he's supposedly incarcerated. | ||
| 21 | "Long John Joker" | October 4, 1969 |
| Joker makes a movie about pirates - cover to find the haul from a long-forgotten armored car theft. | ||
| 22 | "1001 Faces of the Riddler" | October 11, 1969 |
| Riddler becomes an expert at disguises. | ||
| 23 | "Two Penguins Too Many" | October 18, 1969 |
| Real penguins wind up helping Penguin and Joker. | ||
| 24 | "The Underworld Underground Caper" | October 25, 1969 |
| Riddler and Catwoman use an underground drill to commit robberies. | ||
| 25 | "Freeze's Frozen Vikings" | November 1, 1969 |
| Mr. Freeze uses a Viking hoax to commit robberies. | ||
| 26 | "The Great Scarecrow Scare" | November 8, 1969 |
| Scarecrow steals a painting and captures Batgirl as part of his plot to dispose of the Dynamic Duo. | ||
| 27 | "Beware of Living Dolls" | November 15, 1969 |
| Dollman uses his dolls to pull off a crime spree. | ||
| 28 | "He Who Swipes the Ice, Goes to the Cooler" | November 22, 1969 |
| Mr. Freeze's diamond heist goes wrong. | ||
| 29 | "A Mad, Mad Tea Party" | November 29, 1969 |
| Mad Hatter starts an Alice in Wonderland-based gang in a plot to steal a priceless antique teapot to use as part of his mad tea party. | ||
| 30 | "Perilous Playthings" | December 6, 1969 |
| Catwoman and her henchman crash the production of "Tom Thumb in Toyland" and use toy-based plots to defeat the Dynamic Duo. | ||
| 31 | "Cool, Cruel Christmas Caper" | December 13, 1969 |
| Mr. Freeze disguises himself as Santa Claus. | ||
| 32 | "Enter the Judge" | December 20, 1969 |
| An international criminal who is incarcerated on the island prison Satan Island ends up escaping disguised as a judge when his pardon is denied. Now he is going around crashing criminal trials gaining the Cosgrove Gang and other low-level crooks as his jury henchmen in a plot to eliminate all crimefighters. | ||
| 33 | "Wrath of the Riddler" | December 27, 1969 |
| Riddler uses a construction site as his hideout. | ||
| 34 | "Opera Buffa" | January 3, 1970 |
| Joker seemingly traps Batman and Robin, but is haunted by their apparent ghost when he tries to steal a valuable tiara at an opera. | ||
Media
In 1985, Warner Home Video released five selected episodes of the series on VHS in the "Super Powers" video collection along with Aquaman, Superboy and Superman. These videos were rereleased in 1996 and are out of print.
In 1993, in Australia only, Warner Home Video released a 4 volume VHS collection with 4 stories per volume.
In 2008, episodes were released as digital downloads on iTunes,[2] and streaming on Amazon Video.[3]
On June 3, 2014, Warner Home Video released all 34 episodes on DVD in Region 1 in a 2-disc set entitled The Adventures of Batman.[4]
References
External links
- The Adventures of Batman at the Internet Movie Database
- The Adventures of Batman at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder at Marks Cartoon Collections
- The Adventures of Batman at Batman Yesterday, Today, and Beyond
- The Adventures of Batman on The Big Cartoon Database.