Classic Television - Saturday Mornings

The Adventures of Batman

Original channel

CBS

The Adventures of Batman is an animated television series produced by Lou Schiemer'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 13, 1969 as Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder. This version was repackaged without the Superman and Superboy segments.

Over-the-top characters and catchy dramatic music cues gave this version of Batman a realistic look and feel—by cartoon standards of the day. The colors were vibrant and exciting even if the animation was a little stiff and repetitive in places.

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, the popular radio countdown man in the 1980s, was the voice of Robin the Boy Wonder.

Batman and Robin would next appear in a The New Scooby-Doo Movies crossover, various versions of Super Friends and The New Adventures of Batman in 1977.