Hey kids (of all ages), it's Saturday Morning Cartoon time again!
Filmation, the closest thing Hanna-Barbera had to competition in the TV animation game, coalesced into a major studio in the mid 1960s when DC Comics decided they wanted Superma…
Hey kids (of all ages), it's Saturday Morning Cartoon time again!
Filmation, the closest thing Hanna-Barbera had to competition in the TV animation game, coalesced into a major studio in the mid 1960s when DC Comics decided they wanted Superman cartoons for TV, and somehow got the nascent operation's number... The Superman cartoons were a success, and led to Filmation doing a number of other DC Comics characters in the '60s. Obviously, this included Batman, who was a hot commodity due to the live-action series running at the time.
Somehow the DC superheroes shifted over to Hanna-Barbera in the early 1970s. (They generally preferred to use their own characters. This one one of their few major licensed properties.) The Hanna-Barbera Batman made his first appearance as a guest-star in THE NEW SCOOBY-DOO MOVIES in 1972 before going on to the SUPER FRIENDS in 1973.
But Filmation apparently still retained a non-exclusive license on the Caped Crusader, and put it to use with THE NEW ADVENTURES OF BATMAN in 1977. Creating the unusual phenomenon of the same characters being used by rival studios for shows on competing networks, since continuing incarnations of Hanna-Barbera's SUPER FRIENDS were still going.
The voice actors from the Filmation Batman cartoons of the '60s had followed their characters to Hanna-Barbera. So Filmation got the stars of the live-action series, Adam West and Burt Ward, to do the job. This was fitting, as the new series reflected much of the look and tone of the live-action series. (Which was still popular in afternoon reruns at the time.)
Joining the cast was Bat-Mite, who'd been kicking around in Batman's comic books since the late '50s, as a knock-off of Superman's magically-powered, fifth dimension impish villain, Mr. Mxyzptlk. Bat-Mite is a goofy little guy in a poorly-fitting Batman costume who is Batman's biggest fan and is hellbent to use his ever-malfunctioning powers to help his hero, whether he likes it or not!
So here is the first episode of THE NEW ADVENTURES OF BATMAN. It features the Joker. But, since it was 1977, Mark Hamil was busy in a galaxy far away, so he's not what we've since come to expect of him!
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