Guys, I was really happy to see the link to #218. I would only ask that you never refer to IMDB for information on the episode listing and format of
The Adventures of Batman, as it is about as accurate as Wikipedia...and that's on the level of the National Enquirer. Really, just for further information, you should really invest in two books:
Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation &
Animation by Filmation by former Filmation employee Michael Swanigan, both offering a wealth of insight about most of Filmation's series.
Regarding animation...I'm going to be honest: Filmation knew how to apply exciting style to their DC series, as opposed to Hanna-Barbera, where the overused crud, arms falling off of characters, character mouths not quite on the face (and moving, which was body horror to a kid), and relentlessly cloned tropes ("funny" animal sidekicks, "Mutt and Jeff" characters, laugh tracks, legs moving without the rest of the bodies, etc.). If you want to see a pile of stuff, check out Hanna-Barbera's interpretation of DC Comics characters on
The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972) & just about every version of the
Super Friends, then ask yourself if its possible to reclaim minutes of your life you'll never get again.
Regarding the narrator referring to Wayne as "Millionaire Bruce Wayne" is no different than the '66 series, where just about everyone referred to Dick Grayson as Wayne's "youthful ward" when that's something just about every citizen of Gotham (and the audience) should know.
That said, the Filmation series certainly took many influences from the comics of the period and the Dozier series...
In the first set of images, Filmation based the series title and Batman's general appearance on the comic:
1 & 2. The obligatory visit to Gordon's office, only in the Filmation series, the office decor had been updated to mid-century styled furnishings, but Gordon himself was de-aged considerably.
3 & 4: The Batsignal at some dramatic angle (not as common a style choice in the comics as one might imagine) being a semi-routine means of contacting the duo, while the animated Batboat was clearly based on the Glastron version from the movie. I prefer the black Batboat, as it--at least--shares its color with other Bat-vehicles as did not have the extremely loud blue and white of the real boat, which--on occasion--appeared like something from a 60s water-park stunt show. Just sayin'.
5 & 6: Running sequences--pretty obvious what Filmation was going for.
As far as borrowing plots or scenes from the Dozier series, the 1st Catwoman arc served as inspiration for several scenes, as well as another episode where Robin--as seen in
"The Spell of Tut"--has to be rescued by Batman while he nearly falls into a pit full of crocodiles.
Above all else. Filmation's DC series had THE best main title sequences capturing the era they were produced in, more than any other animation house until the Warner Brothers DC cartoons of the 90's. The characters, whether it was Batman, Superman or Aquaman, actually resembled the general comic style guide of the era, which should be no surprise, as some DC talents (e.g., George Kashdan, Carmine Infantino, et al.) contributed to the various series.
While no cartoon is perfect, I feel quite comfortable in saying
The Adventures of Batman was far more entertaining as a Bat-adaptation than the third season of the Dozier show,
Legends of the Superheroes or any of the
Super-Friends series.
“I-I-I know it looks like a Chee-to, but I like it!”