Batfink

Batfink was created by Hal Seeger and is oft considered to be a Parody of Batman and The Green Hornet -- two shows which premiered the same year as Batfink. Each episode consists of a five-minute short and the series had exactly one hundred episodes. The show first aired back in September 1967 but its repeats were shown quite recently, on the Nickelodeon show Weinerville in the 1990's, and on CBBC from 2004-2008 as segments on Dick and Dom in da Bungalow.


 * Actor Allusion / Hey, It's That Guy!: The Parody became very meta in the Spanish dubbing, because the voice actor dubbing Batfink was the same actor dubbing Adam West in Batman.
 * Baddie Flattery: Curly the Cannonball was excessively worshipful of Batfink, apparently due to Batfink being his hero before he turned into a two-bit villain.
 * Big Bad: Batfink's main adversary Hugo A-Go-Go seems to fill this role however different episodes may have a different villain.
 * Bumbling Sidekick: Batfink's sidekick, Karate, seems to fill this role by being clumsy and often getting Batfink into inescapable situations but at least he knows karate. Also he is often the source of the Deus Ex Machina often found within the show.
 * Catch Phrase: "My supersonic sonar radar will help me" and "Your bullets cannot harm me, my wings are like a shield of steel". Also "Well done, Karate!" whenever his sidekick pulls a Big Damn Heroes moment.
 * They lampshaded it in Hugo's Hoke, when Hugo A-go-go's Hate Plague prompts The Capable Karate to sarcastically ask "Why don't you get some new dialogue?"
 * Cool Car: Batfink rides in a customized pink Volkswagen Beetle-like car called the "Battillac" (rhymes with "Cadillac"), that is outfitted with a sun roof and lots of barriers and shields.
 * Deus Ex Machina: Every episode involves Batfink coming to a situation where it seems Batfink cannot escape however at this point, the action would freeze and the narrator would ironically ask dramatically whether Batfink would survive. Then Batfink would survive this seemingly inescapable situation almost always via some sort of Deus Ex Machina.
 * Fantastic Science: The Battilac is outfitted with a sun roof and lots of barriers and shields. In this way, when the car falls into a valley or gets shocked by a sound wave, it remains intact. Then, Batfink says something like, "It's a good thing the Battillac is equipped with a thermo-nuclear plutonium insulated blast shield!" and Karate says, "It's also good it was a small bomb." Also it is revealed that Batfink obtained his superpowers after being born in an abandoned plutonium mine.
 * Parody: The show is a parody of Batman and The Green Hornet, two shows which premiered the same year as Batfink.
 * Stock Footage: Batfink reuses a lot of the same footage e.g. the intro to the initial briefings by the Chief (the TV screen hotline buzzing into life), Batfink and Karate getting into the Battillac, the Battillac going round mountain bends, the Battillac going over a bridge, Batfink's radar and others.
 * Super Drowning Skills: Swimming's kind of difficult when you've got a pair of giant steel wings permanently attached to your back.
 * They Fight Crime: Batfink and his sidekick, Karate, work together to fight crime.
 * Unfortunate Implications: Karate embodies several Asian stereotypes, starting with the buck teeth.
 * Villain of the Week: Most episodes involve a villain who is introduced in that episode and is also beaten in the same episode.
 * However this is not true for the Hugo A-Go-Go episodes and the episode Tough Macduff, where a number of Batfink's foes are gathered all together against Batfink.