The Adventures of Batman: The Complete Series - Blu-ray Review

Michael Scott

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The Adventures of Batman: The Complete Series


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Movie: :2.5stars:
Video: :4stars:
Audio: :4stars:
Extras:
Final Score: :3stars:


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Movie

The 1966 Batman show was probably one of the most iconic in history. It influenced cinema at the time, has made us countless memes over the years, and was a huge change of pace from the traditionally dark and brooding Dark Knight that we had known in the pulp comics and TV shows of yesteryear. It was such a hit that right after the series ended Warner Brothers decided to make up The Adventures of Batman, a 30 minute comedy/action cartoon that was the first half of an animated hour called The Batman/Superman Hour. Basically 30 minutes of Batman mixed with various shorts, skits and other DC comic book shows getting a few minutes here and there (and also heavily involved Batgirl, something that wasn’t as common in the cartoons of that era). The show was not a massive hit, though, never fully realizing the success and humor that the live action Adam West show was able to achieve. Now some 55 years later Warner Brothers has pulled it out of the vault and spiffed up the short lived show for a Blu-ray release.

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As someone who is a HUGE fan of the 1966 live action show, I had completely forgotten about The Adventures of Batman. I vaguely remembered bits and pieces from re-runs on TV, but only bits and pieces, so I was almost going in blind when I started this viewing. Unfortunately the energy and charisma of the live action show just doesn’t come across here. Instead it’s a heavily pared down TV show that cuts out pretty much all of the fun and is even sillier and dumber than most cartoons were back in the day. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to say that Scooby Do Where are You?, The Jetsons or Jonny Quest were bad, it’s just that they weren’t nearly as story centric or complex as modern day Anime/cartoons are, and that The Adventures of Batman was even LOWER on the totem pole than those.

34 adventures are included in the disc, with non of the shorts and extras that make up the rest of the Batman/Superman Hour. I’m not sure what exactly was the problem in bringing the entire hour to disc, as it seems sort of strange to only bring the Batman side of the show into the mix. It would seem to my ignorant self that it would have been easier to just do the whole thing at once, but there might simply be rights or music issues that keep the rest at bay. Either way, it’s a sadly boring affair, as The Adventures of Batman was never a smash hit in the late 60s, and hasn’t garnered any more positive cult reactions over the decades.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video: :4stars:
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As is the case with most of the 1960s era cartoons, the animation style is not going to blow you away with tons of detail. The character designs are rough and slightly choppy, and the motions are never super fluid. And of course we have the typical situation where frames are used and re-used in other situations to save on costs. That being said, the actual source material for the show seems to be in reasonably good condition. It’s simplistic animation and the movement can be a bit herky jerky, but there’s still a moderate amount of grain left and colors really do pop. I didn’t notice any major signs of digital manipulation outside of the fact that the grain seemed a BIT too subdued for the era. There’s a few wonky abnormalities in the terms of flecks or debris, but overall the show looks really nice for being almost 60 years old and made for kids.









Audio: :4stars:
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On par with the video is a solid sounding 2.0 DTS-HD MA mix that fits right in with the time period. As expected for a track like this, we’re not going to have wild amounts of surround usage or anything. It’s a simple 2.0 stereo track that deals mainly with dialog and ambient cartoony sounds in the front of the room. Simple, effective, and not much to say about it outside of the fact that dialog is more than capable and the sound effects and music cues are balanced evenly with the vocals. It does the job and nothing more (but also nothing less).
.







Extras:
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Final Score: :3stars:


The Adventures of Batman is a curious relic from the late 1960s. It never managed to capture the magic and charm of the 1960s Adam West Batman show, nor even the cultural heritage of Superman/Batman era work either. I personally would have rather had the entirety of the Batman/Superman Hour in one set vs. just half of it, but it IS kind of nice to see it pulled from the vault and spruced up a tad. Hardcore Batman aficionados very well may want to give this another spin, but for the majority of Animated DC comic lovers, this is one of the weakest show that the Dark Knight has been privy to be on, and may be a skip.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Bud Collyer, Bob Hastings, Jackson Beck, Casey Kasem
Created by: Bob Kane, Bill Finger
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles:
English SDH, French
Rated: NR
Runtime: 378 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: February 28th, 2023

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Recommendation: Curious Relic

 

tripplej

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Thanks for the review. I vaguely remember this one. But, I do love the updated version -- Batman: The Animated Series (1992–1995)
 

Michael Scott

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Thanks for the review. I vaguely remember this one. But, I do love the updated version -- Batman: The Animated Series (1992–1995)

Batman: The Animated Series will forever be the benchmark for animated Batman shows. No doubt about it.
 

tripplej

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Michael, I was curious and saw this ..


Didn't realize there were so many animated versions of Batman available ...

Evolution of Animated Batman :
0:00 - Introduction
0:26 - The Adventures of Batman (1968) - TV Series
0:41 - Super Friends (1973) - TV Series
0:55 - The New Adventures of Batman (1977) - TV Series
1:18 - Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show (1984) - TV Series
1:39 - Batman: The Animated Series (1992) - TV Series
1:57 - Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) - Film
2:09 - The New Batman Adventures (1997) - TV Series
2:24 - The Batman Superman Movie: World's Finest (1997) - Film
2:40 - Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero (1998) - Film
3:03 - Static Shock (2002) - TV Series
3:20 - Justice League (2002) - TV Series
3:42 - Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman (2003) - Film
4:02 - Justice League Unlimited (2005) - TV Series
4:21 - The Batman (2005) - TV Series
4:32 - The Batman vs. Dracula (2005) - Film
4:52 - Batman: Gotham Knight (2008) - Film
5:10 - Justice League: The New Frontier (2008) - Film
5:23 - Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (2009) - Film
5:36 - Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2010) - TV Series
5:54 - Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010) - Film
6:10 - Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010) - Film
6:30 - Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (2010) - Film
6:49 - Batman: Year One (2011) - Film
7:09 - Batman of Shanghai (2012) - Shorts
7:26 - Justice League: Doom (2012) - Film
7:40 - Young Justice (2012) - TV Series
7:56 - Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 (2012) - Film
8:16 - Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 (2013) - Film
8:44 - Batman: DC Super Heroes Unite (2013) - Film
9:00 - Beware the Batman (2013) - TV Series
9:21 - Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013) - Film
9:37 - Teen Titans Go! (2013) - TV Series
9:52 - Batman: Assault on Arkham (2014) - Film
10:18 - JLA Adventures Trapped in Time (2014) - Film
10:35 - Justice League: War (2014) - Film
10:58 - Son of Batman (2014) - Film
11:10 - Lego DC Comics: Batman Be-Leaguered (2014) - Film
11:25 - The Lego Movie (2014) - Film
11:36 - Batman vs Robin (2015) - Film
11:46 - DC Super Friends (2015) - TV Series
12:04 - Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015) - Film
12:20 - Lego DC Super Heroes: Attack of the Legion of Doom (2015) - Film
12:40 - Lego DC Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League (2015) - Film
12:54 - Batman Unlimited (2015) - TV Series
13:07 - Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts (2015) - Film
13:20 - Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem (2015) - Film
13:36 - Batman Unlimited: Mechs vs. Mutants (2016) - Film
13:57 - Batman: Bad Blood (2016) - Film
14:19 - Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders (2016) - Film
14:33 - Batman: The Killing Joke (2016) - Film
14:51 - Justice League vs Teen Titans (2016) - Film
15:08 - Lego DC Super Heroes: Cosmic Clash (2016) - Film
15:24 - Lego DC Super Heroes: Gotham City Breakout (2016) -Film
15:40 - Justice League Action (2016) - TV Series
15:55 - Justice League Action (2017) - Shorts
16:12 - Batman vs. Two-Face (2017) - Film
16:29 - Batman and Harley Quinn (2017) - Film
16:55 - Justice League: Dark (2017) - Film
17:11 - The Lego Batman Movie (2017) - Film
17:28 - Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (2018) - Film
17:51 - Batman Ninja (2018) - Film
18:09 - Lego DC Super Heroes: Rage of Atlantis (2018) - Film
18:21 - Lego DC Super Heroes: The Flash (2018) - Film
18:37 - Scooby-Doo! & Batman The Brave and the Bold (2018) - Film
18:53 - Teen Titans Go! To the Movies (2018) - Film
19:24 - The Death of Superman (2018) - Film
19:45 - Reign of the Supermen (2019) - Film
19:59 - Young Justice: Outsiders (2019) - TV Series
20:17 - The Lego Movie 2 The Second Part (2019) - Film
20:31 - Justice League vs. the Fatal Five (2019) - Film
20:53 - Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2019) - Film
21:13 - Lego DC Batman: Family Matters (2019) - Film
21:31 - Batman Hush (2019) - Film
21:48 - Harley Quinn (2019) - TV Series
 
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