The New Adventures of Batman

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

A 1977 series created by Filmation, the Spiritual Successor to Filmation's earlier 1968-1969 series, retaining most of the character designs, and not to be confused with The New Batman Adventures.

As might be expected, the eponymous hero fights crime in Gotham City, assisted by Robin and Batgirl, encountering the classic Batman rogues gallery (including Joker, the Penguin, Mr. Freeze, and Catwoman) as well as some original villains. Complicating matters is The Scrappy and The Millstone, Bat-Mite (voiced by none other than Filmation producer Lou Scheimer), a well meaning imp from another dimension called Ergo, who considers himself Batman's biggest fan. As a result, he wears a variant of Batman's costume and attempts to help him, only to often create more problems. Missing is Alfred, the faithful butler of Batman's alter ego Bruce Wayne.

Your Mileage May Vary, as the series' inspiration is clearly the campy 60s show, Moral Guardians prevented the appearance of any significant fisticuffs, and Bat-Mite will probably make you want to strangle something[1]. In the plus column, the rotoscoping based animation is a bit more fluid than its direct competitor Superfriends (if clearly and often recycled), Adam West's and Burt Ward's voice-acting adds an air of cool to the proceedings, and the music is groovy as heck. It also is notable for featuring the first animated appearance of Clayface.

The bottom line is, this is a minor, but fun little series, and a stepping-stone to what would come. Seriously, though... you'll be begging for Bat-Mite to suffer the brunt of one of the Dark Knight's angrier incarnations.

Tropes used in The New Adventures of Batman include:
  1. preferably something from the dimension Ergo