22 October 2009

Evolution of the Batman (and Robin) - The New Adventures of Batman

At the same time that Batman and the Super Friends were challenging the Legion of Doom, Batman and his teen sidekicks were teamed up with an extradimensional being fighting masked vigilantes in Gotham on another network in The New Adventures of Batman.



That intro sure outwears its welcome after a couple episodes.

The series was a semi sequel to the live-action 60's series, though obviously this was animated and had an alien main character. The voices, however, were provided by none other than Adam West and Burt Ward and were just as over the top as ever.

The series lasted a single 16 episode season, but many of the staple villains were squeezed in. Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, Clayface, and Mr. Freeze all showed up, but even though he appeared in the credits, Riddler (clad in red) could not appear as he was licensed to the Legion of Doom series instead (same for Scarecrow).


The real identifiable aspect of this series was the Bat-Mite character. He called himself Batman's biggest fan and always tagged along. But Batman wasn't very nice to the little dude. The truth is Bat-Mite did mess a lot of stuff up, but he usually fixed things too, after all he seemed to have limitless magical abilities. I really don't understand what the point of making him a main character was. I guess to appeal to kids, but he just seems so out of place.




I admit one or two episodes are kind of fun, but after that you realize how many better versions of Batman there are that you could be watching instead. And besides, all of the cost saving animation featuring still heads and moving mouths gets pretty dull. See what I mean:



Up Next: Batman '89

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