The Adventures of Batman | |
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Title card | |
Also known as | Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder |
Based on | |
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 | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 17 |
Production | |
Executive producer | Allen Ducovny |
Producer | Norm Prescott Lou Scheimer |
Production companies | Filmation Ducovny Productions National Periodical Publications |
Distributor | Warner Bros. Television Distribution |
Release | |
Original network | CBS |
Original release | September 14, 1968 January 4, 1969 | –
Chronology | |
Followed by | The New Adventures of Batman |
Related | The Batman/Superman Hour The New Scooby-Doo Movies |
The Adventures of Batman is an animated television series produced by Lou Scheimer'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 14, 1968, as Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder. This version was repackaged without the Superman and Superboy segments.[1]
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 voiceover and radio work, was the voice of Robin.
Batman and Robin would next appear in two The New Scooby-Doo Movies crossovers, various versions of Super Friends (featuring Soule and Kasem reprising their Batman and Robin roles, respectively) and The New Adventures of Batman in 1977.[2]
The Batman segment 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 are listed first in each pairing):
No. in series |
Title | Written by | Original air date | |
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1 | "My Crime Is Your Crime A Bird Out of Hand" | Denis Marks George Kashdan | September 14, 1968 | |
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2 | "The Cool, Cruel Mr. Freeze The Joke's on Robin" | Denis Marks George Kashdan | September 21, 1968 | |
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3 | "How Many Herring in a Wheelbarrow? In Again, Out Again Penguin" | Bill Keenen | September 28, 1968 | |
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4 | "The Nine Lives of Batman Long John Joker" | Denis Marks Bob Haney | October 5, 1968 | |
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 theft." This was changed in subsequent prints to "a spree of stealing." | ||||
5 | "Bubi, Bubi, Who's Got the Ruby? 1001 Faces of the Riddler" | Bill Keenen George Kashdan | October 12, 1968 | |
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6 | "The Big Birthday Caper Two Penguins Too Many" | Bob Haney Bill Keenen | October 19, 1968 | |
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7 | "Partners in Peril The Underworld Underground Caper" | George Kashdan Bill Butler | October 26, 1968 | |
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8 | "Hizzoner the Joker Freeze's Frozen Vikings" | Denis Marks | November 2, 1968 | |
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9 | "The Crime Computer The Great Scarecrow Scare" | Denis Marks Bill Butler | November 9, 1968 | |
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10 | "A Game of Cat and Mouse Beware of Living Dolls" | Bill Keenen Bob Haney | November 16, 1968 | |
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11 | "Will the Real Robin Please Stand Up He Who Swipes the Ice, Goes to the Cooler" | Oscar Bensol Bill Keenen | November 23, 1968 | |
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12 | "Simon the Pieman A Mad, Mad Tea Party" | Denis Marks George Kashdan | November 30, 1968 | |
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13 | "From Catwoman with Love Perilous Playthings" | Bob Haney Oscar Bensol | December 7, 1968 | |
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14 | "A Perfidious Pieman Is Simon Cool, Cruel Christmas Caper" | Oscar Bensol Bob Haney | December 14, 1968 | |
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15 | "The Fiendishly Frigid Fraud Enter the Judge" | Denis Marks | December 21, 1968 | |
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16 | "The Jigsaw Jeopardy Wrath of the Riddler" | Oscar Bensol | December 28, 1968 | |
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17 | "It Takes Two to Make a Team Opera Buffa" | Denis Marks Bob Haney | January 4, 1969 | |
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The original villain Simon the Pieman makes a cameo appearance alongside Sweet Tooth in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "A Bat Divided".
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.
In 1993, in Australia only, Warner Home Video released a four-volume VHS collection with four stories per volume.
In 2008, episodes were released as digital downloads on iTunes,[3] and streaming on Amazon Video.[4]
On June 3, 2014, Warner Home Video (via DC Entertainment) released all 34 original, uncut broadcast episodes on DVD in Region 1 in a 2-disc set entitled The Adventures of Batman.[5] (Note: The episode pairings and order differ from the above list.)
On September 17, 2021, the show was available on HBO Max in Latin America, in celebration for Batman Day.[6]
On November 15, 2022, it was announced Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will release the series on Blu-ray on February 28, 2023.[7]