Originally on the air from January 12, 1966 – March 14, 1968, Batman: The Television Series was extremely popular, and called “the biggest TV phenomenon of the mid-1960s.” The series established the look and perception of the DC Comics character until Tim Burton began a more serious iteration of Batman with his 1989 film of the same name starring Michael Keaton in the title role.
Due to various rights issues, the television series has essentially been the only Batman related thing that fans could not add to their collection until now. In November of 2014, Warner Bros. released a stunning, limited edition Blu-ray set of the entire series. Unfortunately, the high price point meant that not everyone could get their hands on it. Thankfully, Thankfully, Warner Brothers has also broken the set up into affordable pieces, the latest being Batman: The Second Season, Part One on DVD.
For those not familiar with this sixties classic, the series follows Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward) as they race through the streets of Gotham City in the Batmobile thwarting villains. We were introduced to in the first season—the Joker (Cesar Romero), the Penguin (Burgess Meredith), the Riddler (John Astin) and the Catwoman (Julie Newmar), King Tut (Victor Buono), a character created for the show, and Mr. Freeze (Otto Preminger, taking over the role for George Sanders, before Eli Wallach took it over from Preminger the next time the character appeared). The writers and producers kept things fresh, by introducing a new round of villains created for the show: the Minstrel (Van Johnson); Ma Parker (Shelley Winters); Egghead (Vincent Price) and Marsha, Queen of Diamonds (Carolyn Jones), among others. Along the way, every episode delivered a lesson of some kind, usually with Batman correcting Robin in a funny manner.
As the list of actors who played villains shows, Batman was so popular that some of Hollywood’s biggest names were lining up to film a cameo. Watch for famous names such as Dick Clark, Sammy Davis, Jr., Bruce Lee as Green Hornet and Kato, Ted Cassidy as Lurch from The Addams Family, and more. As campy as all of this might be, everything is put together to make for a really fun time.
In this age where most television seasons are a maximum of 22 episodes, it seems crazy that thirty episodes represents just a half a season. However, Batman was an hour long show that was split into two thirty-minute episodes, and aired twice a week.
The video is 1.33:1 full frame. Even on DVD, the transfers have nice visual pop. The audio is Dolby Digital mono. The mix gets the Pows in the punch mix. English subtitles are available. The set contains no extras.
THE 30 EPISODES: Shoot a Crooked Arrow / Walk the Straight and Narrow / Hot Off the Griddle / The Cat and the Fiddle / The Minstrel’s Shakedown / Barbecued Batman? / The Spell of Tut / Tut’s Case Is Shut / The Greatest Mother of Them All / Ma Parker / The Clock King’s Crazy Crimes / The Clock King Gets Crowned / An Egg Grows in Gotham / The Yegg Foes in Gotham / The De vil’s Fingers / The Dead Ringers / Hizzonner the Penguin / Dizzonner the Penguin / Green Ice / Deep Freeze / The Impractical Joker / The Joker’s Provokers / Marsha, Queen of Diamonds / Marsha’s Scheme of Diamonds / Come Back, Shame / It’s How You Play the Game/ The Penguin’s Nest / The Bird’s Last Jest / The Cat’s Meow / The Bat’s Kow Tow
