I'm Not Crazy...I _KNOW_ I'm Not Crazy..... @_______@

[Dub]

OK...Its about 7 in the morning eastern Standard and I got up early and put it on Kids WB...


And the Filmation "New Adventures Of Batman" is airing.....Robin just called Bat Mite who tried to save him after a really ODD LOOKING Joker locked him in a boxcar and Batman and batgirl are in a...Bat-Helicopter? And batman is being voiced by Adam West?!?!?!? AND.....And Joker has a hyena?!?!?! And BAT MITE?!?!?!?!?


WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!?!?!?!?


Did I miss something somewhere ?!?!?! When did Kids WB start airing the Filamation batman?!?!?!?


AND BAT-MITE !?!?!?!?!?

[Naraht]

Yeah, we get that in Lubbock too...I think it's optional programing fed to WB stations, (we're on a 24 hour WB w/no local stuff, so) and it's not an official part of KidsWB saturdays..

They also air Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd century and some other junk.

[Watagashi]

They locked Robin in a boxcar. LOL. :D

What's a bat mite? :confused:

[Sharklady]

> What's a bat mite? <

It's a skin parasite on bats that causes mange.

At least it should be.

[Joe Tully]

I'll have to watch it if I'm ever up that early. It sounds interestingly weird.

Bat-Mite is a little Mxyzptlk-like imp, dressed up in a Batman outfit. He pulls magical pranks on Batman. Basically, they decided to give Batman his version of Mxyzptlk.

http://toychest.diamondcomics.com/toys/00_05/bat-mite_soft.jpg

[Naraht]

Batmite was..uh..I know we had a thread on this awhile back..

ah, here it is - http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14020

[Dee]

man good thing i slept through this

[ota]

Who is Bat-Mite?

Bat-Mite appeared in Batman comics in late fifties/early sixties as a Batmanesque counterpart to Mr. Mxyzptlk. the difference was that Mxyz always tried to destroy Superman, and Bat-Mite tried to help, but the results were equally disastrous.
Bat-Mite was dropped in 1964 when the editorship of the comics changed hands. Jack Schiff was substituted by Julius Schartz, who gave Batman a new look and more serious plots. So he disappeared from comics.

But some years later Bat-Mite was used in the Batman animated series, aimed to little kids

[Anthonynotes]

Originally posted by Jon "WB" Gray
OK...Its about 7 in the morning eastern Standard and I got up early and put it on Kids WB...


And the Filmation "New Adventures Of Batman" is airing.....Robin just called Bat Mite who tried to save him after a really ODD LOOKING Joker locked him in a boxcar and Batman and batgirl are in a...Bat-Helicopter? And batman is being voiced by Adam West?!?!?!? AND.....And Joker has a hyena?!?!?! And BAT MITE?!?!?!?!?


WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!?!?!?!?


Did I miss something somewhere ?!?!?! When did Kids WB start airing the Filamation batman?!?!?!?


AND BAT-MITE !?!?!?!?!?

Hmph, maybe I should get up early to see this (though I doubt my station aired it...sounds like something syndicated, or "on *some* of these KWB stations" that they aired as filler/to go against a 7 AM EST start-time for Fox Kids?).

Let's see....Bat-stuff to deal with:

I believe Batman did have, and still might have, a Bat-copter (saw in some book that these days it'd be some sort of modified Waynetech attack/stealth chopper or something).

As for the Joker being odd-looking--well, this *is* Filmation :-) (That, or they styled him off the way he was drawn in the 60's comics....I dunno. I admit to not having seen this particular Bat-series before...).

As for Bat-Mite: As others stated, he's a Mxyzptlk-esque little imp from another dimension; however, he doesn't torment Bats and Robin, but rather follows them aroound, professing to be their "#1, biggest fan", and leaves after the adventure's over (doesn't go away if you make him say his name backwards or anything like that). Basically, he was a magically-powered interdimensional Fanboy ;-)

Bat-Mite was introduced in the comics around the late 1950's, a time when the Bat-books (at the time, Detective Comics and Batman---Bats never had a zillion comics really until the 90's) were at an all-time low point in sales...and the editor of the time was ordered to try to make them more like the then-successful Superman line of books, via emulating their sci-fi/sci-fantasy elements. Thus, this period (from the late 50's to early 60's) saw Batman travelling to other planets, aliens constantly visiting Gotham City, running around in broad daylight all the time, the disappearance of Catwoman (who didn't resurface until the late 60's), and lots of campy/wacky shenanigans, along with ripoffs of various Superman mythos aspects (thus, Ace the Bat-Hound was introduced, after the success of Krypto the Superdog, as well as Bat-Mite). Of course, Batman *could* have had more than enough exposure to aliens/monsters through his teamups with Superman in the "World's Finest" comic title, but I guess that wasn't enough.

Anyway, this less-than-stellar period didn't help sales, and the Batman editor who was forced to put this stuff in (over his objections, as he wasn't a sci-fi writer, and believed that Batman should just have, well, detective/gangster stories...) was let go in around 1964, and Julius Schwartz (their editor of the "Flash" and "Green Lantern" comics at the time) was brought over to revamp Batman. Despite Schwartz having been a sci-fi writer/editor, he promptly ditched all the "wacky" stuff like Ace, Bat-Mite, constant alien invasions in Gotham, etc. and returned Batman to his detective-and-gangsters roots (along with bringing over the artist from the "Flash", Infantino, to give Batman a more modern look---Batman's look hadn't changed much in literally years by that point, including the Batmobile looking pretty dated...).

Since then, Bat-Mite's appareances have probably been few at best (at least a one-shot story where he meets the Batman writers/editors in the 70's "Batman Family" title, and a few scattered in-references/noncanonical stories on a "trademark renewal" level of usage, but that's about it). Though apparently, the writers of the 70's Filmation series must've thought they needed some sort of character to add to the mix, and hence, even despite Batman in the comics by that point having gotten back to being much more darker (but not as dark as he is today), they threw 'Mite into the cartoon. (Shrug)

-B.

[Sharklady]

> Basically, he was a magically-powered interdimensional Fanboy <

AAAUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!!!!


I prefer the skin parasites!

[DR. BELCH]

Bat-Mite also appeared in the Mr. Freeze ep with the psycho amusement park tycoon who demanded Victor make him immortal. He was one of the toy robots designed by an old friend of Bruce's (the robotics engineer who created HARDAC)....

[Anthonynotes]

Originally posted by Sharklady
> Basically, he was a magically-powered interdimensional Fanboy <

AAAUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!!!!


I prefer the skin parasites!

Heh...

Also recall Batmite trying to (ineptly) help the Dynamic Duo on occasion as well (just like, well, Fanboy ;-)

Bat-Mite never did meet Mxyzptlk in the original comics, but did meet him in last year's one-shot, out-of-continuity, multiple page "World's Funnest"(name?) special. Basically, the two argued over whose hero was better, Superman or Batman, then wound up chasing each other/arguing across various comic-book realities (cueing parodies of their 1940's-era comics, the "grim and gritty" comics, etc.). Bat-Mite was also shown IIRC in some "World's Finest" miniseries of stories made a year or two ago (of which said appearance may or may not be in continuity; IIRC, Mxy calls up Bat-Mite for some reason or other...).

-B.

[ota]

Brainatra said:
Bat-Mite never did meet Mxyzptlk in the original comics (...)

Well, in fact he did!!! There was a Worlds Finest story where Mxyzptlk and Bat-Mite "teamed-up" against Superman and Batman.

Ota

[Anthonynotes]

Originally posted by ota
Brainatra said:
Bat-Mite never did meet Mxyzptlk in the original comics (...)

Well, in fact he did!!! There was a Worlds Finest story where Mxyzptlk and Bat-Mite "teamed-up" against Superman and Batman.

Ota

Ah... my mistake, then.

-B.

[Sharklady]

There was at least one earlier meeting too.

I remember reading a strange comic book in the late 60's (which I'd stumbled across by sheer chance) wherein a jealous Supergirl and Batgirl schemed to reduce Superman and Batman to wreaks of their former selves. Only, after they'd succeeded, it turned out they weren't really Supergirl and Batgirl, but a disguised Mxyzptlk and Bat-mite, out to settle some kind of bet.

It was a very confusing story overall; prehaps that's why it stuck in my mind.

[ota]

Originally posted by Sharklady
There was at least one earlier meeting too.

I remember reading a strange comic book in the late 60's (which I'd stumbled across by sheer chance) wherein a jealous Supergirl and Batgirl schemed to reduce Superman and Batman to wreaks of their former selves. Only, after they'd succeeded, it turned out they weren't really Supergirl and Batgirl, but a disguised Mxyzptlk and Bat-mite, out to settle some kind of bet.


Hummm... yeah I remember that story too. That one appeared in mid-sixties when WF was drawn by Curt Swan. But the one I mentioned earlier was one of the late 50´s drawn by another artist (maybe dick Sprang or someone similar)

Ota

[Nftnat]

Well, I'd thought all the info about Bat-Mite would've been covered by now, but I remember something from the Phlegmation series that no one's mentioned yet. As I recall the Bat team was trapped in some steel enclosure. They suggested to Bat-Mite that he go for help, which he tried to do. A second after he disappeared, he re-appeared & said "Oh yeah, I forgot. Steel is the only thing that stops me." Then he disappeared again. Trapped in his version of the fifth dimension (personally I always liked that group, *rimshot*)? I dunno.

Now I think about it some more, that was from a series Batman & the Super Seven. Anyone see any of the other titles, like Superstretch & Micro Woman?

And now, a couple more Phlegmation Batman memories:

The Dynamic Duo has apparently caught Mr. Freeze, tho he would prove to have an ace up his sleeve. When they find him, he's sitting in a chair, eating a sizable ice cream cone. He offers them some, "cheery cherry or groovy grape". They suggest prison, & he says, "Oh, I don't like prisons; they are too, too hot."

Trouble figuring out the latest Joker caper, which involves, among other things, kangaroos & elephants. Then Bats notices every element so far forms an acrostic of the Joker's name. He then ponders the latest clue which mentions him being in search of a friend, & since the last letter in Joker is R, figures he's after Robin. The next scene is of an out-of-it but upright Robin being caught or trapped er sum junk.

This has been another peek into the memory of the cultural cuisinart.

[Suko]

O_O woah...freaky...*is glad he doesnt watch batman anymore* ^_^