This review is for the limited edition Blu-Ray box set of the 1966 Batman TV Series starring Adam West as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Burt Ward as Dick Grayson/Robin. The series ran for three seasons from 1966 to 1968, airing a total of 120 episodes and a TV movie (which is not included in this set). Along with West and Ward, the series starred Alan Napier as Alfred, Neil Hamilton as Commissioner Gordon, Stafford Repp as Chief O'Hara, and Madge Blake as Harriet Cooper, Dick Grayson's aunt. Later in the series, Yvonne Craig would join the cast as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl. The series did have a ton of great guest stars (mostly as the villains), including Cesar Romero (who hilariously refused to shave his mustache to play The Joker), Julie Newmar/Lee Merriweather/Ertha Kitt, who all played Catwoman in different episodes, Burges Merideth as Penguin, Frank Gorshin as The Riddler, Vincent Price as Egghead, to name just a few. The show even had Bruce Lee in a guest starring role when he and Van Willimas crossed over from the Green Hornet TV series.
Chances are most people reading this have seen at least some of the series either because they are old enough to have watched its original run on TV or, like me, watched it in re-runs back when it aired in syndication regularly. If you do not fall into one of those categories, this classic show is pretty much the antithesis of what Batman has become in the more recent animated series and movies. It is not remotely dark, either visually or in tone, and is, at times, very, very silly. But, it was a product of its time and worked in the mid-1960s. The episodes were very repetitive. Pretty much every episode was a two-parter. At the end of the first part, Batman and Robin are usually in some life-threatening situation, and in the second part, they catch the bad guy (only for said bad guy to be released (or escape) from prison a few episodes down the line and return to do the whole thing over again). And, of course, nobody figured out who Batman and Robin were even though they went out in broad daylight and never did anything to disguise their voices. So, it is something that you just have to go with and accept that it will not make a ton of sense or be even remotely realistic.
The Blu-Ray set is a 13-disc set. The discs for each individual season are packaged in their own flip case inside a decorative outer box. The A/V quality is very good. The episodes were completely remastered with upgraded video and sound. The show looks wonderful in HD and is much improved from what it looked like when it was on the air. Where the set really shines is the bonus content. There are some physical collectibles like a hot-wheels version of the Batmobile, some replica trading cards, and a booklet that serves as an episode guide. As far as the Blu-Ray extras go, they are pretty much all included on the last disc and include about three hours worth of featurettes that range from focusing on Adam West's life and career to featurette in which various celebrities discuss their love of the series. Unfortunately, there are no episode commentary tracks, which would have been nice because I am sure Adam West and Burt Ward would have recorded them if they had been asked to.
Overall, this is a great set. The Blu-Ray remaster looks great. All of the colors (and there are a lot of them) really pop, and the audio track, while they are not in the category of Dolby Atmos, sounds fine. There is an issue with a couple of the discs missing content from episodes, but Warners did a disc replacement program to allow you to swap out those discs. The show was one of the more successful superhero shows, getting a decent series run on a major network (of course, the CW and the WB did not exist when the series aired). It is not as good as the Nolan movie trilogy, Tim Burton's movies, or even Snyder's movies (assuming you like the darker, brooding version of Batman). But, for what it is, it is a fun series and is definitely worth the pickup.
The Blu-Ray set is a 13-disc set. The discs for each individual season are packaged in their own flip case inside a decorative outer box. The A/V quality is very good. The episodes were completely remastered with upgraded video and sound. The show looks wonderful in HD and is much improved from what it looked like when it was on the air. Where the set really shines is the bonus content. There are some physical collectibles like a hot-wheels version of the Batmobile, some replica trading cards, and a booklet that serves as an episode guide. As far as the Blu-Ray extras go, they are pretty much all included on the last disc and include about three hours worth of featurettes that range from focusing on Adam West's life and career to featurette in which various celebrities discuss their love of the series. Unfortunately, there are no episode commentary tracks, which would have been nice because I am sure Adam West and Burt Ward would have recorded them if they had been asked to.
Overall, this is a great set. The Blu-Ray remaster looks great. All of the colors (and there are a lot of them) really pop, and the audio track, while they are not in the category of Dolby Atmos, sounds fine. There is an issue with a couple of the discs missing content from episodes, but Warners did a disc replacement program to allow you to swap out those discs. The show was one of the more successful superhero shows, getting a decent series run on a major network (of course, the CW and the WB did not exist when the series aired). It is not as good as the Nolan movie trilogy, Tim Burton's movies, or even Snyder's movies (assuming you like the darker, brooding version of Batman). But, for what it is, it is a fun series and is definitely worth the pickup.
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