The Adventures Of Batman: The Complete Collection (1968) (Filmation) [Blu-Ray]

Cast: Olan Soule, Casey Kasem (VOICES)

Release Date: February 28, 2023

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Disc Rating: 6/10

 

Synopsis:

Get ready to swing into action with this 2-disc Blu-ray collection of classic crime-fighting fun! Revered by cartoon fans and originally produced by Filmation Studios, these 34 exciting adventures feature the voice talents of animation veterans Olan Soule as Batman and Casey Kasem as Robin. Join the Dynamic Duo as they take the fight to criminals all across Gotham City. And what a cast of criminals it is! From foiling The Joker’s many twisted plans to keeping Catwoman, The Riddler and The Penguin behind bars, Batman and Robin won’t have a moment to spare. So keep an eye out for the Bag-signal, hone those detective skills, and join the Caped Crusaders in this timeless must-have collection!

Please Note: Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

The cult-classic animated series ‘The Adventures of Batman’ joins the Dynamic Duo of Batman and Robin in the Filmation produced series from the late 1960’s which sees our masked heroes taking on the various diabolic villains of Gotham City in the goofy, almost tongue-in-cheek series that was beloved by fans when released. Taking on various rogues-gallery villains from The Joker, The Penguin and Catwoman to Mr. Freeze, Scarecrow and Dollman, along with more, Batman and Robin are always up to the task with the occasional assistance of Batgirl and the dedicated Commissioner Gordon as well as Alfred. ‘The Adventures of Batman’ serves up 34 animated episodes of crime-fighting fun, now remastered and available on Blu-ray at last!

‘The Adventures of Batman’ first debuted in September of 1968 and was best known for being paired with one of DC’s other biggest super-heroes to form ‘The Batman/Superman Hour’. The animated Batman series offers a much lighter and quite over the top version of Batman and Robin that’s much more similar to the Adam West and Burt Ward live-action series and it’s possible that this toon occasionally took things to even sillier places, or at least what feels like it due to some of the ridiculous dialogue and scenes within which are hard not to be amused by.

While ‘The Adventures of Batman’ isn’t by any means one of the most superior Batman cartoon offerings we’ve seen over the years, this one has always remained a fan-favorite for its old-school animation, style and light-hearted approach which delivers plenty of carefree fun to just relax with and doesn’t require your full concentration. Featuring the voice talents of animation veterans Olan Soule as Batman and Casey Kasem as Robin, the Filmation Studios produced toon may not be complex in the storyline department but it’s still awfully enjoyable to revisit, even if some elements of it have become mildly dated over the decades since it first hit television screens.

Overall, Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment’s 2-disc Blu-ray release for ‘The Adventures of Batman’ brings home all 34 animated adventures with the Dynamic Duo fully remastered and now available to own on Blu-ray for the first time looking and sounding better than ever before (and honestly better than most of us probably ever imagined seeing them). Featuring quite impressive new high definition video presentations which are only further complemented by notable new DTS-HD MA soundtracks for each, this goofy late ‘60s cartoon series shines like never before with all of its silly fun, ridiculous moments and over the top dialogue for a new generation of Bat-fans to experience. It may not be one of the best animated Batman shows we’ve ever had the privilege of experiencing over the years and its tone is far closer to that of the campy Adam West and Burt Ward led live-action television series than recent film adaptations and the iconic ‘90s cartoon, but many diehard fans will surely still want to add this one to their collection, especially with the surprisingly impressive quality this Blu-ray debut has to offer.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘The Adventures of Batman: The Complete Collection’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation on every episode of the series, newly remastered and with the show’s original 1.33:1 Full Frame Aspect Ratio in which the series was originally broadcast. These newly remastered video presentations look quite good, especially when taking into consideration the age of the source materials. The video presentations deliver clean, sharp and colorful presentations from start to finish that capture the fairly simplistic animation quite capably with bold, rich colors and detail on most elements within, although for a series of this age it does appear to somewhat cleaned up and is absent of the heavier grain and other elements one might expect, although that certainly doesn’t keep it from looking surprisingly good altogether. Overall, these are very nice High Definition video presentations that look better than expected and should please fans of the classic cartoon series.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release includes a 2.0 Mono DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on all 34 episodes of the series. These lossless soundtracks do their job remarkably well and offer clean, crisp and notably sharp soundtracks on every episode. While it should be no surprise that this is far from a complex soundtrack that keeps things fairly basic and limited in capacity, yet it still manages to deliver clean, crisp dialogue and action related effects that never negatively clash with the music and other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously; all sharing the mono field nicely and never contradicting or conflicting with one another. Overall, these are solid 2.0 DTS-HD MA mono soundtracks that hold up remarkably well and should not disappoint.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘The Adventures of Batman: The Complete Collection’ does not include any extras.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

–

Disc Rating: 6/10

–

‘The Adventures Of Batman: The Complete Collection’ is Now Available to Own in High Definition on Blu-ray from DC & Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

–

*Screen-Connections.com is an Amazon Associate that earns from qualifying purchases