THE NEW ADVENTURES OF BATMAN (1977)

This 1977 Batman kiddies cartoon series boasts the voice talents of Adam West and Burt Ward who of course played Batman and Robin in the popular camp 1960s Batman series.

Modern audiences are however probably more likely to recognize Adam West’s voice as being the same as the mayor’s in the Family Guy TV show, which gives watching this cartoon series a rather serious disconnect.

The animation and story-telling in New Adventures of Batman is pretty much on a par with any late-1970s Saturday morning television cartoon show aimed at children of the era, in other words, it’s pretty lousy. Plots are hackneyed and simplistic and the situations are aimed squarely at small boys. This is a show that adults watch with their progeny at their own risk.

Let’s face up to it: if you’re buying New Adventures of Batman out of nostalgia because you watched it in your childhood years when it was originally broadcast, then you’ve been pretty much short-changed as a kid when it comes to the whole entertainment stakes thing. Later generations had it better: the dark moody 1990s Batman animated cartoon show inspired by the Tim Burton movies are much much better. So is that whole Batman of the future thing (Batman Beyond). But, hey, at least you got to see Star Wars when it originally came out in the cinemas, right?

What is particularly bad in this series is a character called Batmite. Yup, you read that right. According to the official notes Batmite is an “other-dimensional imp who considers himself the biggest fan of Batman and insists on helping him, regardless of whether Batman wants it or not.” If you think Robin is an annoying sidekick, wait till you meet Batmite, no doubt thrown into the series to appeal to very small children. Batmite is a floating fluff ball of a character that seems to have been designed as an afterthought by a different set of animators. He literally magically teleports into the series, appearing in a puff of smoke, as if sent there by the God of Lousy TV Kids Shows himself . . . (Luckily, as far as I know, Batmite has never made an appearance anywhere else in the so-called DC universe other than this cartoon show. * See note below.)

THE DISCS: Sound and image quality is quite good, especially for a thirty-year-old cartoon show. The DVD is of the outstanding quality one would expect of a DVD released by a major outfit such as Warners.