1966 Batmania didn’t just put a lot of Batman toys on the shelves; it inspired twists and parodies on the show itself. One of these was Hal Seeger’s “Batfink”, which was not exactly a parody but appropriated a fair number of elements of the show. Batfink came on the heels of Batman, but years into the ’66 show’s syndication, The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty included Catman, a hero who was clearly a takeoff from the Caped Crusader. This time, we dig into these cartoons, their shared DNA with the ’66 show, and whether or not they’re still worth watching today.
Also, a Holy Deja Vu featuring Bryan O’Byrne (Principal Schoolfield), Counterpoint’s combination of the Hefti Batman theme with the Surfaris’ “Wipeout”, and your mail about episode 151, with an acknowledgement of Tim’s misspelling of the title of the article we discussed!
Great show, guys. I'm surprised you did not include Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse (1960) in your review, as it was created by Bob Kane, and some of its visual sequences--like the Cat Mobile roaring out of the Cat Cave--could be said to have influenced the Dozier version of same sequence.
The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty was aimed at very young viewers, so one could not expect too much in the way of great satirical humor. This applies to Batfink as well, since both relied heavily on the "stoic Batman" caricature, but the rest was....well...
I did enjoy the design of the Cat-Mobile, and when I was a kid, I always thought some company should have produced a model kit based on the car.
Oh, the "smiling" cat in the front' stately Kitty Manor is a nod / take off of the Cheshire Cat from Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.
Regarding the animation, there's a false belief among some animation researchers and fans (usually found among Baby Boomers and Generation X viewers) that Filmation's animation was always "limited", when series such as Star Trek, The Freedom Force, Flash Gordon, He-Man, Bravestarr, Lassie' Rescue Rangers etc, were consistently superior to the true back alley of TV animation, Hanna-Barbera. H-B--to be quite honest--had a few, short years of good animation (1964-67) before their leaning toward low rent work became their standard brand. Compare Josie and the Pussycats, Scooby-Doo, the entire Super Friends franchise, Captain Caveman/i], or Hong Kong Phooey to the Filmation series Iisted. Then, there's the scripts...only in H-B series, it was the same plots recycled one series after another, one decade after another.
This is not to say The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty was the Gold Standard of animation, but Filmation certainly had their own tone and approach that was a breath of fresh air compared to the 50,000, slapped together H-B clone series with teenagers and an animal headliner solving mysteries (i.e., someone in a costume, because the supernatural just cannot exist in H-B land...sheesh).
The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty earned a second life as one of the rotating segments on the syndicated The Groovie Goolies and Friends (1977), with new bumpers produced featuring Waldo--as each of his fantasy characters--comically interacting with the Goolies' "Frankie" character.
We almost included the "Fairly Oddparents" Catman in this episode, but with 100 Batfinks to watch, we decided that was biting off too much for one episode.
Batwinged Hornet is the second person to respond to this episode by mentioning Kane's CC&MM. Had not thought of that, but again, in terms of life/podcast balance, it would have been pushing it to pile that one on too. But good suggestion for the future! (And here I used to think we'd be out of things to talk about once we'd covered Minerva! lol)
For sure, Waldo Kitty was not going to go into full-on parody mode - totally aimed at kids. Batfink doesn't seem to me to be exactly a parody, nor does it seem to be aimed entirely at kids! I'm sure most of the wordplay went over my head when I was seven.
Having watched tons of '70s Hanna-Barbera stuff as a kid, I'd hardly argue that HB's animation was better than Filmation's. But in my recollection, HB's use of time, their pacing, was a bit better. The pacing of the presentation is our main issue. One starts to feel like Filmation is leaving seconds of dead time here and there to stretch the runtime to what they need it to be. The comic timing is not there. I thought it needed to be snappier, which I think they could have done without having to make any upgrades in the animation.
"I'm half-demented with whimsical outrage!"
-- The Joker, in a line cut from "The Joker's Epitaph"
Nice catch, BWH! These are pretty funny, and reminiscent of the Road Runner bumpers on the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour, which consisted of Wile E. Coyote’s “greatest hits,” as I recall.
bat-rss wrote: ↑Fri Mar 05, 2021 3:00 am
We almost included the "Fairly Oddparents" Catman in this episode, but with 100 Batfinks to watch, we decided that was biting off too much for one episode.
Fair enough. A look at Adam West's voice acting career post-Batman might make for a fun episode down the line. Family Guy, The Simpsons, and I think an episode of Spongebob Squarepants as "Mermaidman."
bat-rss wrote: ↑Fri Mar 05, 2021 3:00 amHaving watched tons of '70s Hanna-Barbera stuff as a kid, I'd hardly argue that HB's animation was better than Filmation's. But in my recollection, HB's use of time, their pacing, was a bit better.
Yeah, I'd agree with this. I have nothing negative to say about Filmation, but I'll stick up for Hanna Barbera, too. Scooby-Doo, Flintstones, Jetsons, Jonny Quest, Yogi Bear... They made good stuff.
