Batman, 1968

oddly enough, I only ever saw a few of the Filmation Batman cartoon.  I saw plenty of Superman, Superboy and Aquaman, but for some reason the Batman series was elusive.

this featured Olan Soule as the voice of Bruce Wayne/Batman, and for years, he was THE cartoon voice of Batman for me.  even when Adam West did the voice for the 70s show and whatever Superfriends it was he did, Batman didn't sound right.  Casey Kasem did the voice of Robin.  when the Dynamic Duo teamed up with Scooby (the nadir of Batman's career) it was odd hearing Casey talk to himself as Robin and Shaggy.  same thing happened when the Scoobies met the Pussycats.

anyway, Batman looked pretty much the same here as he always did.  Batgirl was a guest star in many of the 34 episodes produced, half of which were two parters.  he fought many of his rogue's gallery of villains, though a few of them looked remarkably different than they did in the live action version that was airing on ABC at the time.

and of course, they added some of the silliest foes they could, such as "Simon the Pieman".  of all the foes Batman had by 1968, a sinister baker was the best they could come up with?  I suppose it could have been worse, they might have used Colonel Gumm...

at least the Joker, the Penguin, Mr. Freeeze and the Riddler all made appearances, and of course Selina Kyle, the Catwoman showed up.  though I have never seen a green cat ever.  she was voiced by Jane Webb, who also voiced Barbara Gordon and just about every other female ever for Filmation. 

it's a wonder this show isn't out on DVD, with all the hoopla over the "Dark Knight" there is these days.